This morning, the Gang Suppression Unit was on high alert at the Magistrate's Court in Belize City. That's because they were escorting the 8 foreigners who were charged for illegally landing that drug plane on the Coastal Road in September of last year.
You'll remember that major bust as the one where Belizean joint law enforcement teams intercepted some of the narco-traffickers trying to smuggle almost 3,000 pounds of cocaine through Belizean territory. The lawmen had a shoot-out with the narcos, and 2 of them were injured.
Those accused men: 70-year-old Mexican Miguel Cruz Meseguer; the Ecuadoran, 44-year-old Juan Pablo Larrea Cruz; and 6 Hondurans: 37-year-old Terencio Mejia Cruz, 64-year-old Jacabi Yodani Mejia Garcia, 52-year-old Carlos Humberto Henriquez Gomez, and 31-year-old David Noe Orellana Discua, 33-year-old Allan Yovani Mejia Chirinos and 52-year-old Norlan Jose Carrasco Lopez were all taken before Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford this morning for an adjournment.
It was the first time that they had made a court appearance in months, due to the national State of Emergency. The hearing went by rapidly because it was mainly an opportunity for the court to hear from the police about how far their prosecution of the case has progressed.
At its conclusion, we spoke with one of the defense attorneys representing the accused men. And here's what he had to say about the intent to bring this matter to a full trial:
Richard "Dickie" Bradley - Defense Attorney
"Some eight persons have been charged for offenses in relation to the landing of a plane on the Coastal Road that involved the matter of bringing in drugs."
"They have all been arraigned in Magistrate's Court #1, and because of the COVID matter, they have not seen a court or a magistrate for several. So, today was a little bit of domestic clearing up in terms of where do we now go from having been arraigned and adjourned the matter for several occasions."
"So, where we are is that we have cleared a number of elementary hurdles in preparation for trial. The matter was today adjourned on the understanding that we are tentatively set for a trial date on the 25 day of August, which is next month. You wouldn't know that they're all foreigners, and they have been in prison for some time. I think the incident was from September of last year, which is, we're almost one year. The rules that govern trial in the Magistrate's Court are going to kick in, so we're at that stage."
Reporter
"Is this matter going to be tried in the Magistrate's Court?"
Richard "Dickie" Bradley
"That is still a little up in the air. The prosecutor notified the Senior Magistrate that in the course of now and the date set for the return, he'll be in a better position to notify the attorneys and the accused persons if they go to the Supreme Court. If it goes to the Supreme Court, it will be a totally different matter. They will have to fall in line. There will be a jury, and it will be perhaps a harder battle for the prosecution in relation to establishing some basic matters for some of the persons who are accused."
The criminal case has been adjourned until August 25, 2020.
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