Last night, we gave you extensive coverage of the capture of a drug plane in northern Belize, loaded with over a thousand pounds of cocaine, valued at around 7 million US dollars. Since then, a senior police officer has been placed on leave pending investigation into his possible involvement in the landing of the aircraft.
But while the investigation into the actions of Superintendent David Chi is still early, police are moving forward with criminal charges against the men caught at the scene.
The Belizean has been identified to us as Peter Friessen Jr., a carpenter from Blue Creek Village in the Orange Walk District. He has a Mennonite name, but his features are Mestizo, because his father is a mennonite, and his mother is of Hispanic descent. His name is here on this charge sheet, where it says that Friessen, and the Mexicans, Eli Figueroa Nunez, and Azariaz Silverio Manzano, are all jointly charged with drug trafficking 556.2 kilos of cocaine. It says that all 3 men and others were in possession of the cargo on September 9th.
They were caught at the scene after a firefight that lasted for half an hour.
So, Police have moved swiftly and decisively to bring criminal charges, and today, we got a chance to speak with Dickie Bradley, Friessen's attorney. Interestingly, Bradley was already pointing to aspects of the police's allegations against Friessen which he thinks are a bit shaky. Here's how that conversation went this afternoon:
Dickie Bradley, Attorney
"There was a fourth person. That person is a Belizean, lives in Blue Creek, in Orange Walk and was in the vicinity of where the plane was coming down. He said he heard the engines of a plane and he heard gunshots like crazy and he decided to run for safety and he went and made contact with the police who were in the area. As a result the police man were let go last night and he has been charged for possession of 552 kilos of cocaine. The person we are talking about from Blue Creek was charged for bringing in the plane, importation and having in his possession - that's a strange case, because the police have the drugs, but they say he had it in his possession. I haven't had a chance to look at his document to see if he is a pilot or anything like that, but he says he didn't have any drugs. For sure he didn't have any drugs in his possession."
"That is the charge and he will either be taken to the magistrate's court here in Belize City or be rushed up to Orange Walk. Because under the constitution which has not been suspended in his case, he must be taken before a court no later than 48 hours."
Reporter
"What then would your client would have been doing at around that time? I know it wasn't too late, but in a remote area."
Dickie Bradley, Attorney
"I haven't had the opportunity because of almost mayhem with the gang members who were being given their charge sheets and then been told they were taken to prison. So I didn't want him to come out of his cell during that confusion, because there could have been a riot or somebody decide to really give trouble and then next thing you know shots are being fired and so on. He is in a state of shocks. It only dawn on him like he has been charged for being in possession of the drugs. He said he wasn't even close to the plane."
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