And while the immediate families, and the larger BDF family prepare for two more funerals - in the public mind, there's still so much uncertainty about the mysterious circumstances under which the BDF chopper went down.
The ballistics report should be in tomorrow and we are reliably informed that it concludes that the chopper was NOT shot down.
So, for unknown reasons, in the pre-dawn darkness of Wednesday, it crashed, headfirst into the Western Lagoon - at a point where the lagoon was just five feet deep. It was a massive impact crash, shattering the aircraft and its crew.
As you know, it was flying in support of an operation to intercept a narco-jet and its crew. But, there are so many questions and misgivings about that drug plane which landed just off the Coastal Highway, and about half a mile from where the chopper crashed.
We pressed the Commissioner of police for answers today:
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"The whole thing has an appearance, some elements of being type of a handset play. What is the TV shows they called a controlled delivery. What is the level of the interaction and involvement of the DEA and the police in terms of landing this particular drug plane or making this intercept?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I don't know if people understand what control delivery actually means for us in Belize. But control delivery for us in Belize would be that we would allow the plane to land with the drugs, allow them to refuel and then allow them to fly out with the drugs. That is not what happened. We got information coming out of the JIOC on the plane coming and we did what we normally do. We went into operation and we intercepted the plane and the drugs. It couldn't be controlled delivery. I said to someone yesterday the worst thing ever happened to Belize was facebook, because with the advent of facebook gave birth to all kind of experts, people who spew things that they themselves may not even believe just for the sake of getting some likes or some followings. For me it is irresponsible."
Reporter
"The question that Jules asked in terms of DEA involvement and assistance with coordination, can you address that?"
Chester Williams
"I am not going to go into details of our operations."
Reporter
"In terms of who gave and how the B.D.F works with the police to conduct an operation like that and who all is aware that a helicopter for the B.D.F is in the air?"
Chester Williams
"As I have said before, normally when we have operations like these they are coordinated through JIOC and as police, as B.D.F., we hand over our personnel and they are coordinated through JIOC and then JIOC then tells them where to go and what to do. So, JIOC would know which police, or which B.D.F are out there along with whatever assets are being deployed."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"How closely does the anti-narcotics unit work with the DEA? I know you don't want to say what units were out there, that's understood, but one assumes anti-narcotics unit was out there. Were they in lock-step with DEA in this mission?"
Chester Williams
"I am not going to go into the details of the operations, but they work very closely together."
Reporter
"One of the lines currently is that these men lives were endangered by the decisions taken possibly by hire ups or there is the other line that higher ups, especially the commander of the force didn't know that these men were actually out there."
Chester Williams
"I don't know about that that the commander didn't know. That is a matter that is being addressed during the investigation and I am not going to say nothing where that investigation is concerned, because I am not a part of that investigation in terms coordinating or overseeing. The ministry have assigned Mr. Borland and he is fully in charge of that investigation."
Reporter
"Are you able to speak about the part of the investigation that has to do with the pilot and whatever crew would have been assisting to determine who these people are and how they were assisted out of the area, and as a matter of fact probably even into the country? We know that sometimes some people come from outside to assist."
Chester Williams
"Yes, there is an investigation going on to ascertain those things. We did find a finger print in the plane and we have sent that finger print for testing through Interpol."
Reporter
"Sir, there has been an allegation that several ANU vehicles were actually going away from the scene when the BSAG was making its way onto the scene and there was an order from a higher up police saying don't search that vehicle, which is protocol of BSAG?"
Chester Williams
"There are a number of persons spewing nonsense that makes no sense. ANU has several vehicles and the higher up officer you are speaking about, he and I were together the entire night and we went out there together on the scene. When we got there on the scene, BSAG were in the area guarding the plane. So, I don't see how he could have said to BSAG, don't go in or don't search or don't do this or that."
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