7 News Belize

Police Burn Biggest Bust In History
posted (November 22, 2010)
Nine days after the largest drug bust in Belize's history was intercepted on the Southern Highway it was destroyed this morning.

The 2,604 kilos of uncut Colombian cocaine was transported amidst much public excitement to the city on Thursday. It was held under round the clock guard this weekend and transferred to Orange Walk at 5:00 am this morning.

The bust valued at 65 million dollars Belize street value - was incinerated at the BSI furnace and Jules Vasquez was there. We note that we were invited in on the strict understanding that no one's face could be shown because of security concerns.

Jules Vasquez, Reporting
Over 70 heavily armed BDF and Police guarded the BSI compound and the Orange Walk periphery at the furnace police worked in shifts for the job, which took about 8 hours.

When the media was brought in - about 35 bales were left.

The process starts with the police officers opening each individually numbered bail and counting out loud each bale is numbered - and kilo individually counted.

Those numbers are cross checked by a Magistrate, A Justice Of The Peace, two senior police officers and the forensic lab staff - who each have a book detailing how many kilos in each bail.

Most of the 79 complete bails have 30 kilos bricks - and three from each bail has been removed and retained as evidence - meaning police keep custody of about two hundred and forty kilos bricks in the exhibit room.

After all parties agree on the content of every numbered package, the drugs go on the chopping block. Each brick is chopped with an axe and then sliced open by the police. They are then sliced in two by hand and then it is passed unto the man at the fiery furnace who tosses them in and the all consuming fire does the rest.

Reducing the largest bust in Belize's history to a plume of harmless smoke - we are told - of carbon dioxide and water.

What was left in the furnace? White Ash. The process finished at 4:00 pm.

A few notes. The media was only permitted in for half an hour; with previous mass drug incinerations, we could have stayed the entire time - but because it is so time consuming ,we rarely did.

As we noted there was oversight from a justice of the peace and a magistrate. We did observe for ourselves and see them take issue with discrepancies between what was listed on the record and what was actually in a specifically numbered bail - because apparently there had been some error in documentation.

The bust included 79 complete bails - meaning 30 one kilograms bricks each - and two "light" bails with fewer bricks. And while the drugs are gone - apart from the 200 plus bricks retained as evidence - the investigation continues.

Commissioner of Police Crispin Jeffries told us that they have not determined who owned the van that the police were in - nor the other vehicle used for re-fuelling.. When we challenged that since the ownership of a vehicle is fairly simple to establish - he told us that there was some confusion because of open transfers of vehicle titles.

And as for the five officers found in that van - Jeffries says they are still investigating conspiracy charges against them. They all remain under remand for unrelated firearm offences.

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