The tons of cocaine that were seized in a major operation in the south last weekend have been transported to Belize City. By any estimation, the transfer of the multi-million dollar cargo was impressive and carried out with precision by law enforcement officers. Embarrassed that members of the force have been implicated in drug smuggling, the police and the Belize Defense Force jealously guarded the load as it made its way on the Southern and Hummingbird Highways to the Old Capital. The operation interrupted the flow of traffic as it was whisked off to Raccoon Street police headquarters. The location and timing of the destruction of the cocaine is being kept under tight lid because of security concerns, but it is expected to be an event that will be witnessed by the media. The officers, who were detained near the narco-plane when the international drug operation unfolded, were transferred to the Hattieville prison today. News Five's Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
A convoy of nine vehicles occupied by a squad of heavily armed military personnel raced along the Western Highway this morning en route to Belize City. In the middle of the procession was a blue van which contained a sizeable haul totaling two point six tons of Columbian cocaine seized during a major drug bust over the weekend. The fleet made its nonstop journey from the Punta Gorda Police Station to the Raccoon Street Headquarters in a little over three hours. It was a spectacle that had many onlookers staring in disbelief at what they were witnessing as some soldiers donned balaclavas while others were masked in war paint to conceal their identities. 
The route of the caravan was cordoned off near the corners of Central American Boulevard and Raccoon Street. At the payload's final destination a detail of officers secured a one block perimeter between Iguana and Raccoon Streets with noticeable activity taking place in the background.
Until its destruction this quantity of cocaine, some eighty bales worth an estimated seventy million U.S. dollars, will remain under twenty-four hour guard. On Wednesday afternoon an application to have the drugs destroyed was filed in Magistrate's Court in Punta Gorda where the formal request was later approved. While there have not been any additional arrests since the initial detention of five police officers and a customs boatman it is expected that other charges will be levied on those individuals.
Undoubtedly, it has been a busy six days for national security agencies across the country beginning with a twin engine airplane touching down on the Southern Highway at dawn on Saturday morning. 
The alert sent a flock of special agents into the area of San Juan Village where they later discovered crude landing gear as well as a mother load of narcotics believed to have been flown into the country from Colombia. The officers implicated, namely: Corporals Renel Grant, Vidal Cajun and Nelson Middleton as well as sergeants Lawrence Humes and Jacinto Roches have all been charged with possession of unlicensed ammunition and in one case possession of an unlicensed firearm. They were today transported to the Central Prison in Hattieville where they will remain on remand until further instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions. Meanwhile the product will be tested and recorded as evidence before being destroyed. The pilot of the abandoned airplane has since absconded. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
AmbergrisCaye.com 
