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Colombians land and leave during drug bustWhile the nation is still reeling from the suspected drug plane that landed on the Southern Highway after midnight on Saturday, there's some information that at any other time would have been seen as mere coincidence, but is now open for speculation. Last week Thursday, a small twin engine plane bearing the markings TG-MCA landed at the Philip Goldson International Airport. The TG stands for Tango Guatemala, the origin of the flight. On board were five Colombian nationals. On Sunday the Guatemalan plane left the airport without its passengers but another plane landed from Guatemala, with less than the required twenty-four hours notice. Identified as TGMOR, it picked up the five Colombian nationals and flew them back to Guatemala. The Ministry of Defense and Immigration was informed of the request to land since the plane gave short notice and new policies dictate that the ministry is informed of charter flights from neighboring countries. It is not known if the Ministry is seeking to know more about the passengers or the urgency of the return flight. And we cannot confirm if it has any bearing to the drug bust. Channel 5
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 More than thirty-six hours after one of the biggest cocaine seizures, five police officers and a customs boatman are still in custody of the Punta Gorda police as investigations continue into Saturday's international drug smuggling operation on the Southern Highway. Corporals Vidal Cajun and Nelson Middleton; the driver assigned to the GG, Sergeants Lawrence Humes and Jacinto Roches, and Harold Usher have so far only been charged with possession of unlicensed ammunition. Police headquarters in Belmopan has now assumed control of the investigation in which its very own are implicated. The officers are mum but it is confirmed that the cocaine originated from Colombia; it was landed at about two in the morning on a Beechcraft King Air 200 which could not take off from the highway because of a clipped wing. Police are contemplating the destruction of the more than two tons of the Colombian coke. News Five's Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
The seizure of two point six tons of Colombian cocaine in southern Belize over the weekend has again raised red flags on the breach of Belize's national security. The government is yet to issue details on the international drug operation in which law enforcement officers have been detained and from what we know, the investigations have been been taken over by the Police Department, through its headquarters in Belmopan, where two of the suspects are stationed. The other person detained, is a boatman for the Belize Customs & Excise Department.
 Tonight the men remain in detention inside a holding cell at the Punta Gorda Police Station until investigators are able to forward a directive for them to be transferred to the Central Prison in Hattieville. They have not as yet been interdicted but are currently on remand after being arraigned on Monday for possession of unlicensed ammunition and in one instance possession of an unlicensed firearm. It is expected that additional charges will also be brought against the group upon completion of a review of evidence presented to the Director of Public Prosecutions following their arrest.
 On Saturday morning members of the Belize Special Assignment Group were alerted to a twin engine aircraft that landed on a stretch along the Southern Highway near Bladden Village in South Stann Creek. The executive jet had been gutted and retrofitted for the freight of eighty bails of cocaine. While the country of origin has been confirmed it is unclear which cartel operating in the South American nation of Colombia is responsible for the transshipment of this substantive cargo of drugs. The insignia on the single kilo is that of a scorpion, above it are the block letters LR. The symbols suggest that the product is that of the famed Cali Cartel once led by Henry Loaiza-Ceballos whose alias El Alacran translates to the English word scorpion.
 Henry Loaiza-Ceballos The many questions that are being asked in the wake of this sizeable bust revolve around the effectiveness of anti-drug operations in Belize and now, their infiltration by drug lords. It is suspected that the Drug Enforcement Agency had a hand in the bust and had tipped the BDF and Belize Special Assignment Group.
 ottoniel turcios The agency is known to be operating in Belize because the country has long been used as a conduit for the transfer of drugs from South to North America. Recently, a suspected Guatemalan drug lord, Ottoniel Turcios Marroquin was arrested in San Ignacio where he had been living legally and promptly handed over to the DEA. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano. |
Last edited by Marty; 11/17/10 09:04 AM.
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MINISTER OF POLICE SAYS FURTHER CHARGES EXPECTED AGAINST OFFICERS DETAINED FOLLOWING DRUG BUST
Minister of Police and Public Safety Douglas Singh has made his first public comment on the drug plane that made an illegal landing on the Southern Highway over the weekend. In a phone interview with Love News prior to today's Senate meeting, Minister Singh says early information led to the successful interception of the plane and the officers alleged to have been involved.
Douglas Singh - Minister of Police and Public Safety
"We were informed quite early of the incident and we took whatever action we needed to take to ensure that we could secure the scene and we could make any kind of detection that is possible. There is protocols that has to be followed under these circumstances where one, an aircraft is dedicated in Belize's airspace is monitored because sometimes it is difficult to predict whether it is going to and or where it is going to land. We always try to be on guard. I really must congratulate the officers who were working, the BDF, the Police, the people who worked hand in hand to ensure that we had a successful mission in this particular case. In particular I must congratulate the Corporal in Bella Vista and the three special constables who stood their ground in the face of superior officers who are suspected in this particular circumstance."
Minister Singh told Love News that it was local authorities that first detected that something illegal was taking place and mobilized quickly to make the bust.
Douglas Singh - Minister of Police and Public Safety
"There is a monitoring facility that the Anti Drug Unit in the Police Department actually monitors. There might have been initial observation perhaps when the plane was in other jurisdiction. This entire operation was conducted by the Anti Drug Unit, the Police Department and the BDF."
Minister Singh says he is confident that the investigation was carried out properly, and that all the drugs that allegedly came on the plane have been accounted for. We note that while this incident and the apparent involvement of senior police officers will further erode public confidence in the police, Minister Singh says the fact that the officers were detained and will be charged should show that serious effort is being made to weed out corruption in the department.
Douglas Singh - Minister of Police and Public Safety
"I can't speak on the matter, investigation still continues, circumstances like this especially when we have so many individuals, suspects that are involved, we have to do a thorough investigation, we have to ensure that the charges are proper that we will levy on the individuals. It is a matter for the court and prosecution. I think that you can recognize that within any organization there is going to be good people and there is going to be bad people; especially in an organization the size of the Police department, which is 1200 plus people strong. There is no secret out there that there are corrupt police officers, we are not trying to sweep anything under the rug. We are making every effort to look into this matter, to do the investigation as best as we can, so this is part of the effort to help to regain confidence in the police department. I think people must realize whether it is in the Police Department or in the family you have good people and you have bad people."
The five persons implicated in the major drug bust are: Corporal Renel Grant who is attached the Traffic Branch in Belize City, Corporal Nelson Middleton who is assigned as the driver for the Governor General, Sergeant Lawrence Humes who is attached to the Belmopan police station, Sergeant Jacinto Roches who is attached to the Internal Affairs Desk in Belmopan and thirty six year old Harold Usher, a boatman at the Customs Department. LOVE FM
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BZ$131 million worth of cocaína! In a bust that is an acute embarrassment to the Police Department, five police officers were arrested in connection with a drug plane that reportedly landed on the Southern Highway, in the middle of the road. Also embarrassing is the fact that one of the police officers arrested is the driver of the Queen's reporesentative in Belize, the Goveror-General. A member of the Customs Department was also arrested in the bust, the biggest in recent memory - 80 bales weighing 2,604 kilos (5,728.8 pounds), with an estimated Belize street value of $131,762,400.00. On September 12, 2005, Dangriga police were given a tip-off and officers visited the Tobacco Caye Range in Dangriga's waters, where they found 99 bales totalling 5,000 pounds of cocaine. This time, quick police response to a report of an unauthorized aircraft landing in the middle of the Southern Highway led to the discovery of the aircraft, the 80 bales of suspected cocaine in another location and the arrest of the six men, who were not found in the immediate vicinity of the aircraft. Five of the men were found driving a vehicle a few miles from where the plane was discovered. Amandala was unable to find out where the sixth officer, Sergeant Vidal Cahjun, was found. The officers are Corporal Nelson Middleton, 39, who is also the driver for the Governor General; Corporal Renel Grant, 33, attached to the Belize City's Traffic Branch; Sergeant Jacinto Roches, 42, a resident of #22 Tangerine Street, Belmopan, currently attached to the Internal Affairs Desk, Belmopan; Sergeant Lawrence Humes, 38, a resident of #2 Grapefruit Street, Belmopan, currently attached to the Belmopan Police Station, Sergeant Vidal Cahjun; and Harold Usher, 36, a resident of Finca Solana, Corozal Town, a Grade 2 customs security assistant, for the Customs Department, Belize City; Usher was also an Anti Drug Unit officer before going to Customs. Cahjun was charged in the Punta Gorda Magistrate's courtroom of Magistrate Leslie Hamilton, with two charges of kept firearm and kept ammunition without a gun license, while the other 5 men were charged with a single count of kept ammunition without a gun license. The Independence police southern formation were alerted in the early morning of Saturday, November 13, 2010, around 2:00 about a Beechcraft twin-engine aircraft, model 300-FA 137 #N786B Super King Air 200, which had landed in the middle of the Southern Highway, between Mile 56 and 57. At this first location, police also found an Atlas brand car battery along with 2 pieces of board attached to 3 lights on both sides of the road; this was used as landing lights. The plane had apparently been abandoned by its pilot and other occupants. An inspection of the plane showed that its left wing had been damaged, apparently hitting nearby trees upon landing. Independence police also teamed up with the Belize Special Assignment Group (B-SAG) in order to swiftly comb the area. The five police officers were caught inside a white van traveling from the direction where the aircraft was located, in Bladen Village. The police team intercepted the white van at the San Juan Bus Stop; the occupants and vehicle were taken to the Independence police station. Arresting officers searched the van and found Anti Drug Unit uniforms; other wet clothing; 2 car batteries, Atlas brand; muddy jungle boots and tennis shoes; food, and a licensed 9mm firearm belonging to Harold Usher. The team of regular police officers continued on their investigation of the neighboring vicinity where between Miles 59 and 60, they made another discovery, this time of a white container truck which had (23) 17-gallon plastic containers, three tanks of about 500 gallons of aviation fuel inside each tank, three fuel pumps and twelve pine logs. In the vicinity of the Hicatee Village, located around Mile 69 and 70 on the Southern Highway, about 5 to 10 yards into the bushes, police located a GPS (Garmin brand), four hand-held radios, an Iridium Satellite phone (a type of phone which uses a satellite to connect to anywhere from anywhere in the world), two flashlights, a Colt .223 semi-automatic rifle with serial #007865 and a magazine with 5.56 live rounds, and two camouflage jackets. The 80 bales of suspected cocaine were located about five miles away from the Hiccatee area, about ¼-mile into the bushes at Mile 65, close to the Genus Saw Mill. The suspected drugs were labeled with a Columbian drug cartel logo, a black scorpion and the Star of David, in red. The discovery of the suspected drugs was made around 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 13, 2010, after an all-day search. Seventeen of the 80 bales were in loose packages. Reports of another suspected drug plane landing in the area were denied by Minister of Police, Douglas Singh, during an interview with Amandala. Information reaching us at press time tonight is that a third vehicle, a 7-ton dump truck, was also seized on Saturday, November 13, 2010. Reliable police sources have confirmed that the truck was found in the immediate vicinity of where the suspected cocaine was located; the truck is currently parked inside the compound of the Punta Gorda police station, and is registered to a resident of Punta Gorda. Police did not reveal what the dump truck contained. Amandala
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 There’s more to report on Saturday's cocaine seizure in the south. As part of an ongoing investigation into the landing of a twin engine aircraft on the Southern Highway near Bladen Reserve, police were preparing today to effect a search warrant on the property of Customs boatman Harold Usher in Corozal Town. Usher was arrested and charged along with five police officers over the weekend and charged for a single round of ammunition allegedly found inside a van they were traveling in that was intercepted several miles away from the aircraft.  Various items including wet suits and car batteries were also found in the vehicle. Eighty bales of pure Colombian cocaine, with a street value of close to one hundred and forty million dollars were found in the area on Saturday afternoon. Near the village of San Juan, Usher along with Sergeants Lawrence Humes and Jacinto Roches; corporals Nelson Middleton, Renel Grant and Vidal Cajun were captured. Usher, who is being represented by attorney Dickie Bradley, has been transferred to Corozal Town. Meanwhile, an application has been filed in court for the destruction of the huge quantity of drugs.
Channel 5
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EDITORIAL The Reporter
By Harry Lawrence - Publisher
Discovery of a damaged drug plane - a twin engine Beechcraft turboprop aircraft on the Southern Highway carrying 80 bales of cocaine (about two tons) helps us to understand the strength and flexibility of the drug smuggling cartel operating here and the vulnerability of a small country like Belize.
On April 6 this year another drug plane on a run that had to be aborted plunged into the shallow waters off Lighthouse reef atoll.
Belize law enforcement authorities went to the area to inspect the plane and made arrangements for salvage equipment to retrieve it in the days that followed.
But two days later, when the police and Coast Guard arrived ready to get to work, they could not find the plane! It had been recovered and removed overnight to a safe place with all its cargo. It was an impressive salvage operation, carried out by the drug cartel in the dead of night, leaving our police department looking flat-footed and dim-witted.
The latest drug plane saga also tells us something about the way the cartel works. It has been able to reach deep inside our Police Department and corrupt some of our policemen. So now we know that the drug barons are not only wealthy and resourceful. They also have a working alliance with the police!
In nearly three years of effort, the UDP Government has not been able to weed out corrupt police officials, and it has not been able to take out corrupt immigration officers either. These failures are significant, because when the next general elections roll around in 2012 or 2013, voters will be reminded of these failures and there will be a price to pay.
Voters will ask how effective the Minister of National Security has been in fighting crime and people trafficking. If voters conclude that the Ministry of National Security has not done enough to safeguard Belize's national security, they may not only reject the Minister; they will also blame the government and its administration.
Already the enemies of the government are exploiting the weakness in the UDP armour, its Achilles Heel in the Ministry of National Security. They are effectively using this weakness to keep the government off-balance and on the defensive.
We see it in the strategy of the drug cartel, shifting trafficking routes from Corozal & Orange Walk > Mexico, to Toledo & Stann Creek > Guatemala.
We see it in the proliferation of guns and the heightened activity of street gangs. We see it in the clandestine efforts to disrupt trade, such as the deliberate destruction of marker bouys which identify the channel for tourist and commercial shipping.
The destruction of navigation bouys is especially revealing because this activity is undiguised sabotage, of no benefit to anyone except to those working to bring down the government by illegal means.
The Government of Prime Minister Barrow may not fully realize it, but it is already locked in mortal combat with some sinister and powerful forces arrayed against it. At a time like this Belize has urgent need of strong political and moral leadership, capable of incisive thinking and tough choices.
The country needs this leadership, not only from Prime Minister Barrow, but from every member of his government team.
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 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.
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Tonight the Police and BDF are on high alert as the yield from Saturday's drug bust - all 2,604 kilos were transported to Belize City today.
It created quite a scene on the western highway as the highly secured convoy stopped traffic just after eight am to rush through with the largest drug bust on record.
Here's what happened when they swept into the city:….
Jules Vasquez Narrating
The 12 vehicle police convoy rolled hard into Belize City with commotion and combustion this morning - with 4 lead security vehicles clearing the way and blocking off streets.
Their destination was the Raccoon street police station where the entire block was cordoned off by BDF officers with their guns on the ready - while snipers stood guard on the roof and other patrolled the perimeter.
In total we saw over 30 soldiers - armed to the teeth and also in some cases masked to protect their identity.
Inside the compound, police unloaded the carrier truck.
The drugs will be destroyed at an undisclosed location. Channel 7
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POLICE DESTROY HUGE COCAINE HAULThe cross country track for the huge amount of cocaine hauled in by law enforcement authorities just over a week ago, ended today at Tower Hill in Orange Walk. It took hours of first, verification, then a check and counter check to make sure it was actually cocaine being burnt, and then brick by brick the cocaine was entered into the incinerator. For security reasons, the police did not initially reveal that the destruction of the drugs would take place at the BSI facility at Tower Hill, Orange Walk. Samples of each bail have been taken and are being kept as exhibit in the pending court case against five people who are yet to be charged in connection with the bust. Late last week, police applied to the Punta Gorda Magistrate's Court for a destruction order which was granted and subsequently today's burning at Tower Hill. On November thirteenth, a plane landed between miles fifty nine and sixty on the Southern Highway in the early morning hours, cocaine was offloaded and hauled away and traffic was blocked for hours until the aircraft was removed from the highway. Five persons, including four police officers were detained while they were attempting to leave the area news where authorities found the plane. Those officers include Corporal Renel Grant who is attached the Traffic Branch in Belize City, Corporal Nelson Middleton who is assigned as the driver for the Governor General, Sergeant Lawrence Humes who is attached to the Belmopan police station, Sergeant Jacinto Roches who is attached to the Internal Affairs Desk in Belmopan and thirty six year old Harold Usher, a boatman at the Customs Department. They have all been charged with the possession of ammunition without a license; however, police say more substantial charges will be brought against them shortly. LOVEFM
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Nine days after the largest drug bust in Belize's history was intercepted on the Southern Highway it was destroyed this morning.
The 2,604 kilos of uncut Colombian cocaine was transported amidst much public excitement to the city on Thursday. It was held under round the clock guard this weekend and transferred to Orange Walk at 5:00 am this morning.
The bust valued at 65 million dollars Belize street value - was incinerated at the BSI furnace and Jules Vasquez was there. We note that we were invited in on the strict understanding that no one's face could be shown because of security concerns.
Jules Vasquez, Reporting
Over 70 heavily armed BDF and Police guarded the BSI compound and the Orange Walk periphery at the furnace police worked in shifts for the job, which took about 8 hours.
When the media was brought in - about 35 bales were left.
The process starts with the police officers opening each individually numbered bail and counting out loud each bale is numbered - and kilo individually counted.
Those numbers are cross checked by a Magistrate, A Justice Of The Peace, two senior police officers and the forensic lab staff - who each have a book detailing how many kilos in each bail.
Most of the 79 complete bails have 30 kilos bricks - and three from each bail has been removed and retained as evidence - meaning police keep custody of about two hundred and forty kilos bricks in the exhibit room.
After all parties agree on the content of every numbered package, the drugs go on the chopping block.
Each brick is chopped with an axe and then sliced open by the police. They are then sliced in two by hand and then it is passed unto the man at the fiery furnace who tosses them in and the all consuming fire does the rest.
Reducing the largest bust in Belize's history to a plume of harmless smoke - we are told - of carbon dioxide and water.
What was left in the furnace? White Ash. The process finished at 4:00 pm.
A few notes. The media was only permitted in for half an hour; with previous mass drug incinerations, we could have stayed the entire time - but because it is so time consuming ,we rarely did.
As we noted there was oversight from a justice of the peace and a magistrate. We did observe for ourselves and see them take issue with discrepancies between what was listed on the record and what was actually in a specifically numbered bail - because apparently there had been some error in documentation.
The bust included 79 complete bails - meaning 30 one kilograms bricks each - and two "light" bails with fewer bricks.
And while the drugs are gone - apart from the 200 plus bricks retained as evidence - the investigation continues.
Commissioner of Police Crispin Jeffries told us that they have not determined who owned the van that the police were in - nor the other vehicle used for re-fuelling.. When we challenged that since the ownership of a vehicle is fairly simple to establish - he told us that there was some confusion because of open transfers of vehicle titles.
And as for the five officers found in that van - Jeffries says they are still investigating conspiracy charges against them. They all remain under remand for unrelated firearm offences. Channel 7
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