On November fourth, 2021, a drug plane landed on the Southern Highway, allegedly facilitated by members of the police department's Commander Operations Strike Team. In the days following, there was intense speculation about the role of Corporal Elmer Nah in this illicit landing and his whereabouts after the drug cargo was busted.
Two days later on November 6th., he was detained at a police checkpoint on the southern highway along with his common law wife Epiphania Caliz and her brother PC Manuel Caliz. They were charged for firearm and ammunition charges for a weapon and live rounds found in the police affiliated vehicle they were in.
Today as that case went to trial in the Belize city Magistrate's court the trio was only facing charges for 2 counts of kept ammunition without a license for 135 rounds of. .223 Remington live rounds and four 5.56 caliber live rounds - both used in high powered assault rifles.
PC Caliz is defended by Leeroy Banner while his sister Epiphania is defended by Dickie Bradley, and her common law, Elmer Nah is undefended. Bradley discussed the case today:
Dickie Bradley, Attorney-At-Law
"It took a long time to get disclosure. It took a long time for all the preliminaries, but the senior magistrate insisted this case has to take place, because it is going too long and so my colleague Leroy Banner is defending Manuel Caliz and myself, I am defending Epiphania from the very beginning, because I have said so publicly previously that she is a public officer and she has been suspended from her employment from ever since she was wrongly charged, because she and her very young baby were in a vehicle driven by her common-law husband Mr. Elmer Nah who is basically representing himself as I understand it and that this matter has even gone to an internal police tribunal and the written evidence has established that a police officer who is in fact responsible for the ammunition, who belong to the team of these officers has said to the tribunal that yes, they are mine. So how can you charge somebody else for something which was issued to another police officer, when they are in fact as you heard in the trial that they were driving a vehicle was used in the commander of operation's special team. So you are given a vehicle from the police department and ammunition are in there for one of your fellow teammates. How can you end up facing criminal charges?"
The prosecutor in case is the Head of Prosecution, Alifah Elrington.
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