And we also asked the ComPol for an edibles update. It made headlines last week when over 30 children and 7 adults had to be hospitalized after ingesting marijuana-laced candy. Police investigation eventually revealed that the edibles were seized by customs and kept in the department's exhibit room until the keeper decided to throw them out. And from the dump, they made their way into the hands of vendors who sold it to both adults and children.
The Edibles Outrage had parents calling for the heads of everyone involved, and so did the government. The Cabinet brief for that week stated that the Minister of Home Affairs was instructed to, quote, "Bring all pressure to bear on the Belize Police Department to ensure that all those involved in this incident be brought to justice." End quote.
And since it was revealed in court that the edibles weren't even labelled properly while they were being kept in the exhibit room, we asked the ComPol if the cops that failed to do that would be penalized.
However, he disputed the claim.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I don't know where you get that from. I don't know if you sat in cabinet room and heard that instruction, but I can tell you myself and the minister that we have been on this and the minister has been briefed in terms of what has been done and what is being done."
"The edibles or whatever you may want to call them, gummies, whatever they may be, were handed over with a diary in which the persons who handed it over described what was being handed over to the exhibit keeper. It was just a matter for him to have signed the diary and received those items and from what we know, the items were properly handed over to him, and that's it."
Reporter
"Are you thinking to bring charges anytime soon for anybody else?"
Chester Williams
"At this time, it is extremely difficult. There are some of those persons who are involved in the selling. While we do believe that they know that these edibles contained cannabis and, despite that, still sold it to children, it is not going to be easy for us to prove that they knew and so that may pose a hurdle to us. But we're still looking to the investigation and if we should come across imperative evidence that they had knowledge and, despite that, still sold it to children then they too can be held to account."
The claim was made in open court by the attorney for 38 year old Mario Bustillos, the evidence keeper charged for 10 counts of negligent harm upon 10 minors.
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