7 News Belize

The Bust Gives Police A Breather
posted (February 27, 2020)

So, there was no arrest made, and tracks in the area suggest the pilot and the ground crew left through one of the side roads in the area.  

But, to go over the numbers, there are about 2,070 parcels of cocaine. Typically the parcels are 1 kilogram bricks, and converting that into pounds, would result in 4,554 pounds, and that works out to  just over two tonnes.  Though that is a preliminary number based on estimates, the US Street value per tonne is about 27 million US dollars, and a little over two tonnes would have a US street value of close to 60 million US dollars. So the very rough and preliminary US street value for this shipment is about 120 million Belize dollars. 

Like we said, it may be the biggest bust ever recorded in Belize and it is a huge relief for the police.  They have not made a bust since September of 2019 - when they found 1.3 tonnes of cocaine - also of the Coastal Road.  Since then there have been as many as seven known drug planes that have landed and disgorged their cargo without police making any headway.  And every time it happens, the public outrage builds, with the suggestion that police, either by commission or omission are not doing enough.  

And finally tonight, they can take a breather comforted by the two tonnes sitting in secured storage.  Commissioner Williams gave us his sentiments:

Jules Vasquez
"A section of the populous feels that you all are not doing enough to interdict these planes and it's humiliating to see them landing here and there and burning the plane and escaping with the drugs. Is it some relief for you all that unno catch one?"

Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"Of course yes, we do feel some sense of relief and we don't understand the public concern but we have been doing our best to explain to the public the difficulty that it takes to be able to intercept these planes. It is not easy to determine where a plane is going to land when it leaves the South America area and so once it enters our airspace and it goes at a certain level, it's anybody's guess where it goes. In this case we're fortunate that we had air assets from other countries and they were able to give us modus location as to where the plane was going and that was very helpful to us."

Jules Vasquez
"Is it your opinion that whoever us manning this plane, was aware they were being actively tracked by air assets?"

Chester Williams
"I think so because they landed there and moved away immediately, so they knew they were being followed."

Jules Vasquez
"Other encounters you all have had a fire fight before on the coastal, you had a fire fight before in Blue Creek and you said these people had firearms, had automatic rifles. Do you all have any suspicion as to why there was no fire fight this time?"

Chester Williams
"Well like I said, probably they believed that we knew exactly where they were going and they might have suspected that we have been informed that the plane will land there and it could be that they didn't have sufficient man power and fire power, so they wouldn't stay and fight with the police. The last time when we had that fire fight in the coastal road, they were only about 4 persons, so it would appear as if when it is done within Belize, they amount of man power that they would have, is not as much as they would as when it is near the borders because near the borders, they will have the person from Mexico side who would come in and they would have huger numbers."

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