Today 1,056 pounds of cocaine was burnt - that's the drugs that police found in an abandoned Toyota Prado on the Coastal Road earlier this month. Police had detained 12 Guatemalans and a Belizean in this case. But the cops did not have enough against the men to charge them with drug trafficking so 2 out of the 12 Guatemalans, who took the rap for the team, were fined over $100,000 dollars for a slew of firearm offenses. They paid the fines in full and the men were deported. So that case is closed. Now some might say that these men certainly got the better end of this case, but today at the drug destruction site, Commander of Operations Chester Williams says they didn't really, because the Belize police got their prized product valued at more than 6 million US dollars.
Chester Williams- Deputy ComPol
"The way how the destruction process goes is that first we must get the confirmation from the lab that the content in the parcels are cocaine. After having received that then we make an application to the magistrate court for an order of destruction. Once the magistrate grants that order then we go into the practical aspect of destruction and that requires by law that we have certain people present as witnesses to the process. One of the persons who must be present is a magistrate, justice of the peace and then we have member of the media who would be the media witness to the process and so the persons who you are seeing witnessing are those persons who are authorized by law to witness. One of the process is that each and every parcel must be opened and then the chemist the field tests on the ground to show again what the parcels contained are indeed cocaine that is being destroyed."
Reporter
"Walk me through the frustration of the department, in the sense that this quantity of drugs and the arrests that were made and the fact that these individuals were subsequently released without being charged for material of this quantity of drugs and now we are here witnessing the destruction."
Chester Williams- Deputy ComPol
"That is the way the law goes. Sometimes things don't go the way we want it to go. But will say still that it was good work on the part of the police who were able to remove the drugs off the street and if the drugs did belongs to those persons who we suspect it belong to, cannot say that they got away, because the fact of the matter is the drugs were confiscated. They no longer have it. They are not being able to make the proceeds that they would have made from it and on top of that they were arrested and charged for immigration offences as well as firearm offences."
In the initial press briefing on this case, Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie mentioned that on October 31st a Boston Whaler boat was seen anchored at the Princess Marina and persons who were meeting in the area were caught on surveillance camera but police could not tie this boat or the persons directly to the cocaine bust or to any illegal activity.
On another note, Williams says they will increase their patrols on the Coastal road and other key areas in the country. Notably, the Prado is licensed and registered in Belize - but police have still not said who it is registered to - despite many requests from the media.
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