When the grenade exploded on Kraal Road at about 7:15 on Monday night it added one more chapter to the sad history of Urban Terror in this small country. Since May of 2008 – four grenades have exploded in Belize – two teenagers have been killed: the first was 16 year old Sixteen year old Darren Trapp in May of 2008 and the second was14 year old Rudolph Flowers on Monday night. Two teenagers – casualties of a ruthless street war. And while two have died – as many as 13 people have been injured in two blasts and it could have been so many more than that – imagine, for example, what would have been the outcome if the famous carnival day grenade had detonated. And while we are all thankful for those small mercies, we are equally aware that the terror era is upon us and everyone, everywhere – particularly in Belize City – lives with the knowledge that there are more explosives out there.

It is a frightening reality and Jules Vasquez took stock of where we’ve been and where we’re at – starting with Monday’s explosion – which according to the Commissioner was a direct product of gang warfare.

Crispin Jeffries, Commissioner of Police
“You want me to say there is a fight on between this specific group and that specific group and I will confirm without a doubt that that information is reaching us too that there is a fight between Kraal Road and George Street. That is what you wanted to hear, it has been said.”

It has been said but what will be done – what was done to prevent?

Jules Vasquez,
“I get the impression that in this case you were short on intelligence or failed to respond properly to intelligence because then intelligence should have said things will escalate in a dramatic irreversible way.”

Crispin Jeffries,
“I don’t think that you are guessing Jules. You and I know that this is where we are right now and it is not for you to guess. We have intelligence, we have information. But we are putting our resources based on our intelligence and that is the hotspot, that is the area, then it is getting the needed attention. We have manpower, we have armed police and soldiers, we have vehicles, we have cameras – I don’t know what else we can do.”

Jules Vasquez,
“But apparently you didn’t have sufficient attention last night.”

Crispin Jeffries,
“That is an assumption.”

Jules Vasquez,
“If had the required attention we wouldn’t be dealing with what we’re dealing with.”

Crispin Jeffries,
“The police officers are required to patrol. The police officers patrol that area on foot. They are required to be on foot, out of their patrol vehicles for 45 minutes out of every hour.”

But they can’t be everywhere and the reality is they could not be on that corner.

Martin Segura, Assistant Commissioner of Police
“There was foot patrol on that day in question but to be on the exact spot, because remember they need to rove, we are not at a point where we can cordoned this place and have under control that whole area of Kraal Road.”

Crispin Jeffries,
“There was a specific time in the past when we’ve deployed foot patrol to Kraal Road and they were posted at the corner of Haynes Street and Kraal Road. But that is literally saying to you that you are in the eye of a hotspot and the criminal element would laugh at you because right beneath your eye, things would happen.”

And those things mean the sale of drugs – which is the root of the root in this case.

Crispin Jeffries,
“And this is all relayed to the sale of drugs. Drugs has been sold in that specific area for at least 15 consistent years.”

Jules Vasquez,
“But you all have not stopped it for 15 consecutive years.”

Crispin Jeffries,
“You can’t but I can assure you, the statistics will show you that we’ve taken bags and bags of weed out of that general neighbourhood in the last five years. Firearms from abandoned lots, we’ve arrested and charged. But it is a serious situation. You can’t change Romans in Rome.”

But now we are all in a sense living in that Rome – from Mayflower Street in May of 2008 to in front of the KHMH in September of 2008, Yabra in November of 2008 to the roof of the home of the Comptroller of Customs in March of 2009. And there are more grenades unaccounted for – presumably all in the hands of criminals or organized gangs – part of 24 that went missing from the British Army in Belize.

[November 27, 2008]
Lt. Col. Peter Germaine, BATSUB Commander
“It has been confirmed that the grenade that went off two weeks ago was of a batch number commensurate with the grenades that were received by BATSUB in December of 2003 and therefore could possibly be part of those missing grenades that were stolen in 2004.”

[December 29th, 2009]
David Jones, BDF Bomb Expert
“They had indicated there were 24 of these grenades went missing in transit between the UK to here. Up to date probably about six of them we have either recovered or have been involved in incidents. So that will probably account for another 18 or more out on the streets.”

It’s a grenade like this one, the L109a1 – found in front of the KHMH – or like this one – happily toyed with by British television host Ross Kemp when he came to Belize to do a documentary on gangs – which is eerily fitting because it is a British grenade.

[November 27, 2008]
Lt. Col. Peter Germain,
“In terms of now I think for your viewers, I’ve got to say yes, we are to blame because we brought, we owned the grenades.”

They owned it and we inherit the whirlwind.

Crispin Jeffries,
“I will assure you that the British government through its military people in Belize have done many things to try and assist us but it is little too late. The grenades are now being used. But when the grenades are finished, what comes next?”

Who knows? But for the time being – Police say they will bring down the hammer.

Crispin Jeffries,
“We will make every effort, we will take this situation under control and we will produce some results.”

And while they may hold it down and create the illusion of calm, for a time – somewhere out there 18 of these are in the hands of hostile forces.

Interestingly, the BDF – as recently as Tuesday – maintains that the BATSUB grenades were lost somewhere in transit between the UK and BATSUB Belize while the BATSUB Commander has said, as you just heard, that they owned – meaning possessed - the stolen grenades.