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What happens to The thousands of illegal firearms and ammunition that enter the country illegally after they are picked up off the streets or removed from crime scenes? They end up here at the Belize Police department's Firearm destruction initiative where they are then dismantled, and destroyed for good. The programme, which was implemented by a collaborative effort between the Mines Advisory group, CARICOM IMPACS and the British High Commission, not only focuses on the disposal of these deadly weapons but also how to store, manage and transport them.

Nikita Mohammed, Regional Program Manager, MAG
"So what we are doing here in Belize is destroying weapons from the police from the defense force from the cost guard and from the customs that are either obsolete, or unserviceable meaning they cannot be serviced or they have been confiscated for instance from a crime scene and we are working with these different groups to have them destroyed. And the reason for that is because we are trying to avoid these weapons being diverted or moved from secure state stores towards criminal networks and gangs. In other words we are contributing towards reducing armed violence by ensuring that these weapons that are no longer serviceable that are obsolete are destroyed."

MAG has a responsibility to provide training to the different state agencies on how to store and manage their stockpiles of weapons and ammunition. The equipment, the chop-saws and other heavy duty machinery were funded by the UK government. And while it may seem like quite a lot of material to dispose of, it is important that it is done in an efficient manner, that no piece, or scrap is salvageable or can be used again.

Callixtus Joseph, Strategy Coordinator, CARICOM IMPACS
"Weapons have unique serial numbers and each of those serial numbers are identified or could identify that weapon. Now think of a crime that was committed five years ago and you are getting that serial number of a weapon you reused this can cause a mass issue in the criminal justice system."

Bart Jones, Deputy Commissioner of Police
"Part of the training was the proper destruction of firearms so the idea is to properly destroy them so that there's no one that they could be reassembled and no part could be, and so that's why we have the expert supervision and the guys who were at the training last week are learning so that they will know how to do it properly on the next occasion but I assure you that it is being done in such a way that none of the parts are usable at the end. So no spring, no barrel, nothing can be used again."

Improving Weapons management within the department is a testament to their commitment to improving citizen safety and promoting peace. The batch destroyed today marks the beginning of a major milestone for not only the police but the entirety of the law enforcement sector.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"Well as you know today is the culmination of a very strategic partnership that we entered into last February along with CARICOM impacts, MAG and of course with funding from the British commission. It's a very important exercise not only in terms of assisting personnel in all security forces including the customs department in terms of the storage of firearms and the safety procedures but also as you saw today the destruction of some 923 very deadly weapons that we would certainly not want to get out into the hands of the wrong people. And so this is an extremely important exercise and again as a result of a great partnership we have with these agencies."

"What you saw just now these high powered weapons, one of them I think may been a machine gun, are not utilized by the police department but there are instances where a 9mm or a 38 have been recovered that can be put to utility by the police department."

More guns will be destroyed in the week - about a thousand more.