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When the Mayflower Street grenade attack occurred on May 21st, it was as if something changed irreversibly in Belize: gun and gang violence changed to a kind of urban terrorism. Since then city residents have all been living in a sort of collective fear, waiting for the next grenade to drop. Well tonight the recently formed Gang and Violence Prevention Unit may have averted a dangerous and similar attack as they today searched a home and came up with a deadly type of plastic explosive. We found out more an hour ago.

This is half a pound of PE 4, a plastic explosive - the British equivalent of C4, widely known as one of the world’s deadliest explosives. And these electrical leads in the background and electrical and non electrical detonators are all you need to detonate it. These were found along with a smoke grenade and a sawed off pump action 12 gauge shotgun at a home at the corner of Berkeley and Plues Streets.

The Gang and Violence Prevention Unit made the find. Inspector Oscar Tzib heads the unit.

Inspector Oscar Tzib, Head – Gang & Violence Prevention Unit
“We had some elements of, you could say destruction, that are now out of the streets. We have managed to arrest three persons, two males and one female, who were at the time in the house where the search was conducted. The BDF has already been brought into the picture. They have taken some information regarding the items found and they will come back again tomorrow to give us a final decision on what the police needs to do.

These are explosives that could cause serious impact, deaths in our society. All you need is a battery and connect all the components together and that will cause a detonation.”

So how much damage can half pound of P.E. 4 do? Police say they don’t know at this point and will have further consultation with the BDF experts tomorrow. According to police, the persons detained, two men and a woman are known to be gang affiliated. They also believe that there are more explosives on the streets.