#392722 - 11/14/10 08:36 AM
DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
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A twin-engine plane believes to have been carrying cocaine landed on the Southern Highway in Bladen Village, Belize early Saturday morning. Seven people including senior police officers are detained in connection with the illegal landing.
When a Belize Defense Force (BDF) team arrived in the area they found the road blocked with logs. The plane was empty and it is believed that its contents were ferried by waiting vehicles to a boat on the Caribbean Sea in nearby Independence Village. Residents report hearing a plane circling low in the area early Saturday morning. It is also believed that a second plane was also scheduled to land, but was aborted when the BDF showed up. A search was being conducted for that second plane believed to have been running low on fuel. All indications that this illegal landing operation was carefully orchestrated with senior police officers providing logistics and or security services.
Police are being tight-lipped about the incident and a promised official report has still not been issued by the police press officer.
By Patrick E. Jones Photos courtesy of PGTV
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#392724 - 11/14/10 08:54 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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From what I heard, this was a scheduled landing to unload and the plane was supposed to take off, but someone forgot to bring the AV fuel or the plane could not take off for some other reason. Police are not being tip lipped, just investigating before a statement is issued.
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#392738 - 11/14/10 04:09 PM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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I suppose it's too much to expect anyone to be able to tell us to whom this plane is registered or where it is registered.
Stolen I guess.
Things have come to a pretty sorry state when we are told on the news "police are in attendence" and the first question that comes to mind is "yes but were they waiting in ambush or awaiting delivery?"
Like many other major incidents this will no doubt be brushed under the carpet along with DFC, Chinese immigrants, police officers said to have masterminded the Spanish Lookout bank job and others.
Still as Dabunk says, that aircraft should be worth a shilling or two....
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#392767 - 11/14/10 10:45 PM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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What happens with the planes is a bit strange. They are auctioned off but they have very little value without the log books. As a result the "high bidder" is always the guy with the log books, he shows up with the log books pays the $50,000 or less "auction price" and flies it off back to where it came from. Happens the same every time.
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#392809 - 11/15/10 12:06 PM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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And where did they get the log books?
_________________________
Harriette
Take only pictures leave only bubbles
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#392815 - 11/15/10 01:17 PM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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High Profile officials detained in involvement in suspected Cocaine Bust
On Saturday 13th of November 2010 about 2:00am, Independence Police (ISF) received information of an aircraft suspected to have landed somewhere in Bladden Village. As a result ISF police proceeded to the area where a white van was seen coming through the area , where with the assistance of Belize Special Assignment Group (B-SAG)the van was intercepted at the San Juan Bus Stop.  On board the van were the following persons. (1) Driver was Renel Grant 33yrs, Corporal of Police attached to Traffic Branch in Belize City; (2) Nelson Middleton 39yrs, Corporal of Police and Driver assigned to the Govenor General and resident of Camalote Village; (3) Lawrence Humes 38yrs, Sergeant of Police presently attach to Belmopan Police Station of #2 Grapefruit Street in Belmopan; (4) Jacinto Roches 42yrs Sergeant of Police attached to the Internal Affairs Desk Belmopan and a resident of #22 Tangerine Street Belmopan and (5) Harold Usher 36yrs Boatman at Customs Department of a Finca Solana address in Corozal Town. All of the above persons were detained and escorted to the Independence Police Station along with the van. At the station a thorough search was conducted on the van resulting in the discovery of the following items: Several BDU’s with ADU markings, several wet clothing, 2 car size batteries Atlas brand , muddy jungle boots and tennis, can food , empty sausage cans, a licensed 9mm for Harold Usher. The said van has been processed by Scenes of Crimes and Forensic, and items found have been labeled as exhibit. ASP Alton Alvarez, Officer-in-charge for Independence Police along with other police officers left en route to Bladden Village where between miles 56 and 57 they met BDF/B-SAG personnel. At the scene, they secured a white twin engine Beechcraft aircraft 300-FA 137 with Black, Red and White in color with number N786B Super King Air 200. The aircraft was processed for finger prints. Also found at the scene was: (1) Atlas brand car battery with 2 pieces of board which had (3) lights attached on both sides. Further checks between miles 59 and 60 led to a small white container truck with VIN# JDAMEO8J2RGF75162 that contained (23) 17-gallons plastic containers (3) tank with about 500 gallons of aviation fuel and 3 fuel pumps. Also found were a total of 12 pine logs. Searches by the police in the Hicatee Area about 5-10 yards inside some bushes led to the discovery of (1) GPS Garmin brand (1) Iridium Satellite phone (4) Hand Held radios (2) RAYOVAC Flashlights (1) Colt .223 semi-automatic rifle with Sr. No. 007865 with a magazine containing 5.56 rounds and 2 pairs of camouflage jackets. At around 5:00pm as a result of further searches in the area conducted by Police on a road at mile 65 near the Genus Saw Mill, about ¼ mile in, led to the discovery of 80 bales of suspected COCAINE and 17 loose packs of suspected Cocaine. The drugs have since been secured by police and is being processed by Forensic personnel.
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood Police Press Officer Tel. 227-2222 ext 302 www.police.gov.bz
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#392863 - 11/16/10 08:49 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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#392866 - 11/16/10 08:58 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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Word went out hard and fast at dawn on Saturday morning that a plane had landed in the middle of the Southern Highway. Huge news - and it got even bigger as the second report was that police were implicated in offloading the plane.
Well it gets no bigger than that - and Jules Vasquez went south on Saturday to look for answers - he built his story with help from our friends at PG TV who were the first media to arrive on the scene:….
Jules Vasquez Reporting
This is the Twin Engine Beechcraft King Air 200 where it was found in the middle of the Southern Highway at mile 56 early on Saturday morning.
It landed in an unpopulated area on a straight stretch of road sometime after midnight on Friday.
This is known as the Bladden area - about 7 miles away from the nearest village which is Bladden.
Our information says villagers heard the aircraft circling the area after midnight and alerted police - who called in The Belize Special Assignment Group (B-SAG) - a US funded and trained unit in the police department.
The B-SAG Team found the plane empty - inside the cabin - these straps secured the drug cargo - but the drugs were gone. The luggage compartment had a few discarded wrappers and cans of red bull.
And why was the plane left there? This damaged wing suggests one plausible cause - apparently it clipped a pine tree on the landing.
These makeshift landing lights were found on the road powered by a car battery.
And there was a plentiful supply of plastic fuel containers here at the scene and many more hidden in the bushes three and a half miles down the road between miles 59 and 60.
And while B-SAG guarded the plane at mile 56, twenty-one miles north - Independence police intercepted a white van occupied by 4 veteran police officers and one customs officer - all believed to have participated in landing and offloading the plane. They had muddy boots and wet Anti Drug Unit uniforms.
Police kept searching and at around 5:00 in the evening, they went to mile 65 - 10 miles from where the plane landed - near the Genus Saw Mill, and about a ¼ mile in they found 80 Bales of COCAINE and 17 loose packs of suspected Cocaine - which we estimate to weigh about two thousand kilos - a street value of 38 million us dollars - again unofficial estimates.
It's a tremendous job of detection by police and just processing the crime scene at mile 56 took extraordinarily long blocking off the only artery to the south for almost 12 hours - causing an especially long queue of traffic to be stalled on the road for hours.
Indeed, it is not every day that a plane gets stuck in the middle of the highway - but those in the area did not want to hear that - they were headed to the Battle Of The Drums in PG - and the delay was driving them crazy.
Richard Logan, Traveler
"I am out here since 6 this morning."
Jules Vasquez
"So you were going to the Battle Of The Drums?"
Richard Logan, Traveler
"Yes but because of this plane they have blocked all the traffic. But the drugs were moved a long time ago."
Tomas Pop, Bus driver
"People want to reach to their destination, most of them are going to Puerto Barrios and the others are going home, I have children in the bus that are sick and I don't really like what is taking place right now."
Jules Vasquez
"So what's the condition of your passengers?"
Tomas Pop, Bus driver
"There are almost like 50 people inside the bus right now. They are hungry and thirsty and there is no water. I don't know why they don't want the people to cross so that they can reach their homes. They say that nothing can pass."
Finally at 12:45 pm - police started towing the plane down the road - slowly, slowly the plane was pulled into position and hauled away .
It was parked neatly on the roadside a mile away - an off incongruous site at the entrance to the Bladden reserve - this plush luxury jet - unclaimed, its pilot unaccounted for, and its full story untold…
And while the cocaine is being officially weighed at this hour - the more pressing matter is the four policemen and one customs officer who are being implicated for involvement.
As we noted they were intercepted in a van near the San Juan bus stop - that is 21 miles from where the plane landed.
The van was driven by 33 year old Corporal Renel Grant - who is the GG's former driver, along with the GG's current driver, 39 year Corporal Nelson Middleton as well as 38 year old Sergeant Lawrence Humes and 42 year old Sergeant Jacinto Roches attached to the Internal Affairs Desk Belmopan and 36 year old Harold Usher a Boatman at Customs Department.
All of them were detained and taken to the Independence Police Station along with the van. The van was searched and that turned up several battle dress uniforms with anti drug unit markings, several items of wet clothing , 2 car batteries - the same kind that was powering the landing lights on the highway, muddy jungle boots and tennis, and a licensed 9illimter pistol for Harold Usher. They were charged this morning for a single ammunition offence - but we understand it that is preliminary - and the single charge had to be brought to keep them detained while the DPP prepares other charges.
One Corporal Vidal Cacun from the Independence police station has also been charged for a firearm offence and he is also being investigated in connection with the drug ring.
Two other police officers attached to the Independence formation have also been suspended - pending investigation into their possible involvement.
So 8 lawmen - 7 of them police - are implicated; six of that eight have been preliminarily charged and are pending many more charges which are being prepared by the DPP.
This didn't make it into the story, but three miles formt he landing site, police also found a white container truck with twenty three 17-gallon plastic containers, and 3 tanks with about 500 gallons of aviation fuel and 3 fuel pumps. 12 pine logs which had been used to block the road were also stowed in the area.
We stress the weight we calculate of two thousand kilos - is based on the conventional packaging of 25 kilos per bail which would derive two thousand kilos - but that figure is unofficial. Police are still weighing the drugs at this hour - so no official figure is known at this time. A kilo generally sells for upwards of twenty thousand Belize dollars on the streets but the American price is about 18 thousand US dollars per kilo.
One more note, this King Air 200 - which has been moved from the highway and secured by police - is identical to one that landed and was abandoned on the northern highway two years ago. That one culminated in a shootout with the BDF but no one was arrested. In this case, the pilot is believed to have fled. There is also another widely circulated but unsupported theory that in this case there were two planes and one of them did take off…
Channel 7
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#392876 - 11/16/10 09:13 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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 Corruption in the ranks of the police, that’s an allegation that has been around from time immemorial but the stench of corruption hit eerily close to home this past Saturday when a sophisticated drug operation was busted in the south. Four police officers, including the driver assigned of the governor general, and a custom officer have been arrested. We’ll have more on the arrests later in the newscast but first, the bust came after a twin engine Beechcraft landed and sat on the Southern Highway for hours last Saturday morning. Later in the day police found in the vicinity, bales of cocaine containing an estimated two point six tons of the drug. If you do the math, at an estimated seventeen point three thousand US dollars per pound, the value of the bust is in the range of a whopping one hundred and forty million Belize dollars, using the US custom valuation. It is still early in the investigation, so the pilot of the plane, the local kingpins and the cartel to which the shipment is linked, have not been revealed. The plane has been pulled off the highway but sits on the roadside. We begin our coverage of this developing story with a report from News Five Jose Sanchez and Cameraman Christopher Mangar. They captured the spectacle by air with the assistance of an Astrum helicopter piloted by Gustavo Giron Sr. Here’s that report.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
Residents in villages on the outskirts of Punta Gorda reported hearing an aircraft flying low over the roofs of their homes close to two o’clock on Saturday morning. That was when the Independence Police Formation received information that a suspected drug plane landed near the Bladen Reserve. At mile fifty-seven on the Southern Highway, the wings of the white plane stretched across the highway. The white twin engine aircraft with black and red pinstripes with registration numbers N786B is a Beechcraft Super King Air 200. By five the morning, it was being guarded by police and Belize Defense Force personnel.  Since the road was blocked, a caravan of vehicles began to grow at the north end of the checkpoint. People left their vehicles and brought out babies as well as cameras to see the fairly large plane just sitting surreal in the middle of the highway. And they had reason to awe because the plane is much larger than those used for domestic flights in the country and it would have also taken a highly skilled pilot to land on the Southern Highway.
While some soldiers combed the ground for clues, the B.D.F. Defender flew overhead and also scoured the terrain for evidence of the cargo. Eventually, the Defender landed a half mile away along the same stretch of highway at mile fifty-eight.  As you look to the left of the Bladen Nature Reserve Sign you can see the B.D.F. Defender parked on the highway, at the same spot the drug plane made its descent on the highway before coming to a halt a half mile away. A closer inspection of the scene reveals several lights on the highway that were used to identify the end of the plane’s runway, because the road would turn into a curve at a bridge if the plane went any further.  The runway lights were made with an Atlas brand car battery which was wired to the left and also to the right of the highway with three lights each attached to two pieces of board.  Two gallon bottles are visible to the rear of the plane and many more were strewn off the highway on the left of the plane. And a few miles south of the plane, between miles fifty nine and sixty, a cargo truck with flat tires was being guarded by the police. The truck is believed to have carried the fuel to the plane. The truck had twenty three seventeen gallons plastic containers, three tanks with about five hundred gallons of aviation fuel along with three fuel pumps, and twelve pine logs extracted from the area.  Although trees were cut to clear the landing, the plane did receive minor damage when the wings clipped a pine tree, hence the reason why the pilot couldn’t take off. After three thirty p.m., the plane was towed a half mile away and parked off the highway to allow the flow of traffic which was backed up since early Saturday morning. And after additional searches, at five in the afternoon, near a saw mill, eighty bales of suspected cocaine and seventeen loose packs of the suspected drug found by the police. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.
The packages had the scorpion stamp, which indicates the drug originated from Colombia. Channel 5 |
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#392877 - 11/16/10 09:14 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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 As we told you earlier, five persons have been arrested for Saturday’s drug bust. After the beechcraft was dusted for fingerprints by the BDF and police, a white van was intercepted at the San Juan Bus Stop near the Bladen Community. Corporal Renel Grant attached to Belize City Traffic Branch was found behind the wheels. Corporal Nelson Middleton assigned as driver to the Governor General was in the van along with Sergeants Lawrence Humes and Jacinto Jacinto Roches, originally from Punta Gorda and now stationed at the Belmopan police station. The fifth person was Harold Usher, a Customs Department boatman stationed in Corozal Town who is also a former anti-drug unit officer. The men were taken to court in Punta Gorda this morning and News Five Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
The Punta Gorda Town Police Station was this morning teeming with activity as the usually quiet local headquarters was fortified by members of the Anti-Drug Unit and the Belize Defense Force. Outside a swarm of heavily armed officers secured the perimeter while the families of four of their own were inside visiting the men in custody. Among them was forty-two year old police sergeant Jacinto Roches, seen here greeting his wife and friends. He, like the rest of his colleagues, is awaiting a single charge of possessing unlicensed ammunition; a live round which was allegedly found in the vehicle they were intercepted in.  That account has been disputed by all four officers who argue that during the search of a white van they were traveling in the officers sweeping it came up empty-handed and that the bullet was only discovered after the men were taken into custody.
Police however, are hoping that the ‘holding charge’, as it is referred to, will lead them to information on the contents and occupants of this aircraft which landed on the Southern Highway near Bladden Village in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Inside the twin engine Beech Craft was illegal cargo in the form of two point six tons of pure cocaine. While the men were not caught in the immediate vicinity of the aircraft Independence Police, acting on information received, were able to nab them discovering inside the vehicle a laundry list of fatigue and other related equipment including.
 In the parking lot of the police station were two vehicles believed to be used either in the offloading of the eighty bails of cocaine or the transportation of its pilot and passenger. These two vehicles are said to be part of a small convoy of which the white van and another vehicle remain impounded in Independence Village. Punta Gorda police remained tightlipped about the ongoing investigation as it is formally in the hands of the Belmopan formation. According to a reliable source the department is only facilitating the work being done by their counterparts before escorting them out of town.
 The equipment found inside the white van included anti-drug gear, several wet clothing items, two car size batteries, and a licensed nine millimeter belonging to Harold Usher. In another search in the Hicatee Area, police found one GPS Garmin brand, a Satellite phone, four Hand Held radios, two flashlights, one Colt point two-two-three semi-automatic rifle and ammo and camouflage jackets.
Channel 5
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#392882 - 11/16/10 09:26 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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Tons of cocaine found in Belize
BELMOPAN, Belize -- Eighty bails (each bail containing 30 kilos) and 17 bags of cocaine, weighing a total of more than 2.6 tons, were found over the weekend on a roadway in the southern part of Belize, a few miles from the town of Punta Gorda.
Police sources say that they believed that the drugs were transported to the English-speaking country by a twin engine aircraft, which was later found abandoned after apparently having encountered mechanical problems.
No other details are available, but the police are carrying out investigations to ascertain where the drugs originated and if possible where they were intended to be delivered.
The police were unable to estimate the street value of the illegal substance, but one officer said that it would be more than US$50 million.
Reports also state that two police sergeants, two corporals, and a Customs Officer have been arrested and charged with possession of ammunition, while three other police corporals have been charged with unlicensed firearms.
They were all refused bail when they appeared before a magistrate at Punta Gorda court and were remanded to prison until December 9.
Caribbean Net News
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#392954 - 11/16/10 11:58 PM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Cayemen]
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Admittedly, I know nothing about aircraft, but I do know how to Google.....and this is what I found out...... From:http://www.airliners.net/aircraft-data/stats.main?id=328 The Raytheon Beechcraft King Air 200 specs state: Weights 200- Empty 3318kg (7315lb), max takeoff 5670kg (12,500lb). B200 - Empty 3675kg (8102lb), max takeoff 5670kg (12,500lb). Even if they "stripped" it down, having found 2.6 tons (5200 lbs) of coke, it leads you to belive that there was little if any "product" that was spirited away before the cops found what they did. But ya might want to keep a lookout for police that have a dusty white patch under their noses! 
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#392961 - 11/17/10 08:42 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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I like this I read on Facebook.... Give credit where it is due! There is a growing group of skeptics that need to be educated regarding the challenges of combating the drug trade. Belize Police captured the plane, drugs and corrupt officials involved in a recent incident. Ministers’ lives, together with their families are being threatened. Thus, the thinking that all public officials are corrupt is misguided.Other Aircraft facts and links: * *Empty weight <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturer%27s_Weight_Empty>:* 6,950 lb (3,150 kg) * *Max takeoff weight < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_Takeoff_Weight>:* 10,100 lb (4,580 kg) * *Range <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Range_%28aircraft%29>:* 1,530 miles (1,321 nm, 2,446 km)
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#392965 - 11/17/10 09:00 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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2604 kilos of cocaine, that's 5704 pounds - the largest drug bust in Belizean history is tonight being moved to a secure location after being weighed at the Punta Gorda Police station.
The weight was confirmed to us this afternoon by Police and Public Safety Minister Doug Singh who told us via telephone that the cocaine with an estimated street value of 46 million US dollars will be destroyed as soon as possible.
Jules Vasquez
"How can we the public be assured that it is being properly safeguarded and it won't turn into flour, or it won't disappear from wherever it is?"
Hon. Doug Singh, Minister of Police
"There are a lot of security measures in place to safeguard the product and to ensure that as soon as possible we can provide for the destruction of it and if possible we try to do that with the media present. I think certainly the public would want to be satisfied that it has been disposed of properly. It is not the first time that planes have entered our air space and it is always a challenge for the department, the police, the BDF and The Anti-Drug Unit to be able to respond in time especially when landings occur in remote locations. That was the situation here, I think we were just a bit prepared, I think we were able to have the early response."
Jules Vasquez
"There is a lot of speculation that its the DEA that gave you all the information. There is the information to this newsroom which says that it was just local intelligence. Are you able to say how the intercept was made?"
Hon. Doug Singh, Minister of Police
"It was local intelligence, there are monitoring devices available to the drug and the police department that can monitor traffic that enters the air space. It is always difficult for us to predict where they are going to land and that has always been a challenge. As a matter of fact the plane that landed in Sarteneja was also track but it was difficult to determine if it will land in San Pedro or Sarteneja or if it would land in other locations."
Jules Vasquez
"There is very little to directly link these officers with the scene of the crime just from the basic rules evidence that they were not found at the scene where the plane was, they were found some miles away."
Hon. Doug Singh, Minister of Police
"That's the challenge of the investigation; some of the evidence may be circumstantial. We continue to work at it because any possibility of linking evidence to place them at the location I think is going to be key."
Jules Vasquez
"Are you all aware that there is a heightened use of Belize for drug transshipment or forward transfer of drugs?"
Hon. Doug Singh, Minister of Police
"Certainly and as pressures are applied elsewhere Belize will become under even more pressure with respect to us as a possibility."
Singh says he was not shocked when he heard about the plane landing, but he was disappointed to hear that police officers were involved
He says that the police who sent out the alert was a Corporal from Bella Vista village and special constables. He added that there is nothing at this time to implicate higher ranking officers.
Four of the five police officers detained and one customs officer have been charged for possession of ammunition while other charges are prepared. They are: 33 year old Corporal Renel Grant - who is the GG's former driver, along with the GG's current driver, 39 year Corporal Nelson Middleton as well as 38 year old Sergeant Lawrence Humes and 42 year old Sergeant Jacinto Roches attached to the Internal Affairs Desk Belmopan and 36 year old Harold Usher a Boatman at Customs Department.
Another police officer of interest is Corporal VIDAL CAHUN who has been charged for an unrelated FIREARM AND AMMUNITION.
As for the plane, investigators are not sure of the origin and there is no plan to keep it. Singh says that as with confiscated assets it will be sold.
The estimated street value of the drugs in Belize is 57 million Belize dollars.
Channel 7
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#392967 - 11/17/10 09:03 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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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. |
Edited by Marty (11/17/10 09:04 AM)
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#392968 - 11/17/10 09:05 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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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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#393064 - 11/18/10 08:59 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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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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#393174 - 11/19/10 09:03 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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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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#393175 - 11/19/10 09:04 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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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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#393184 - 11/19/10 09:16 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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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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#393409 - 11/22/10 08:36 PM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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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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#393424 - 11/23/10 08:49 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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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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#393429 - 11/23/10 08:58 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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 As early as five this morning, the destruction of more than two tons of cocaine began in the north. An estimated one hundred and forty million dollars went up in smoke as the incinerator at the Tower Hill sugar mill destroyed the Colombian coke. The cargo was first brought to Belize City from the south last Thursday and then transferred up north where all day, the police and B.D.F. oversaw the operation. The cocaine, eighty bales and seventeen loose packs were found last Saturday. It was the cargo of a plane that was abandoned near the Bladen Reserve when it could not take off because of a clipped wing. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
From its seizure by members of the Belize Special Assignment Group on Saturday November thirteenth, to its ruin today this mass of Colombia’s finest has arguably been the most guarded commodity in the country next to foreign currency at the Central Bank. Across the sprawling Tower Hill plant this morning members of Belize’s elite tactical forces stood guard while work was being done systematically inside the factory’s inferno to destroy eighty bales of cocaine. It was a painstaking task involving the random sampling and jotting down of information pertaining to each package incinerated.
 Each bale is counted; a cake then selected and placed on a chopping block where an A.D.U. officer hacks it open with an axe before passing it on to another officer who then throws it into one of two blast furnaces nearby. Occasionally bagasse is added to the fire to contaminate the fumes coming out of the chute.
Isani Cayetano
 Isani Cayetano “The thick, acrid plume of smoke exhausting the chimneys here at BSI’s Tower Hill facility is not that of the usual sugar crop. Instead what you are seeing is the end result of the destruction of eighty bales of cocaine.”
It is a bit hard to imagine yet totally understandable why this product is heavily sought after on the global market. After all a brick of yayo on the streets of Belize City is the equivalent in value of this 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The entire haul, a combined total of one hundred and forty million dollars, is almost a fifth our national budget for this fiscal year. To further simplify its value it would be the same as building twelve Kendal Bridges.
 To ensure that things run smoothly the process is overseen by an appointed group consisting of a Justice of the Peace, a magistrate, a chemist and a senior police officer. Since five-thirty, they have been on the go, accompanying the shipment from its storage at the Raccoon Street Police Station over the weekend to its target at Tower Hill.  While the destruction ends a rigorous shift for these armed men it is only the beginning of a wider, more intense investigation into this aircraft that perched on the Southern Highway and those who offloaded its contents last Saturday. Its pilot has since skipped town but five officers attached to the Belize Police Department and a custom’s boatman are currently in detention at the Hattieville Prison awaiting further legal action. Additional charges include a conspiracy charge as it is believed that they were part of an orchestra that landed the plane near the Bladen Reserve.
 Corporals Renel Grant and Nelson Middleton, the former and current drivers assigned to the Governor General, and Vidal Cajun, as well as sergeants Lawrence Humes and Jacinto Roches and Customs Boatman Harold Usher were arrested near San Juan Village. The office of the D.P.P. will determine what other charges will be placed on the group.
Channel 5
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#394151 - 12/05/10 11:54 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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They distressed something.
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#394588 - 12/11/10 10:18 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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5 read additional charge for Southern Hwy drug plane  The 20 heavily armed police officers, BDF soldiers and two police mobile units that were used at the Magistrate’s Court to ensure the safety of six people reportedly involved in the landing of a drug plane on the Southern Highway, were there apparently on another mission as well – to protect the accused officers from the cameras of reporters covering the story. Five police officers and a boatman for the Customs Department who were suspected of facilitating the landing of the drug plane made an appearance before Chief Magistrate Margaret McKenzie. Both in entering the courtroom and in exiting the court to where their police transport was, the accused officers were shielded from the media. In fact, police officers alerted the accused officers whenever they noticed a reporter trying to take their pictures, so that they could hide their faces. The men were shackled with leg and wrist cuffs, and were swiftly moved into the courtroom, but no additional charges were added to their charge sheets in the morning. The prosecutor at that point asked Chief Magistrate McKenzie for an adjournment date because there was currently no case file available for any further action, because the investigation is still ongoing. Four of the five police officers detained and one customs officer had already been charged for possession of ammunition, while other charges were being prepared pending investigation. The men are Corporal Renel Grant, 33, who is the Governor General’s former driver, along with the GG’s current driver, Corporal Nelson Middleton, 39; Sergeant Lawrence Humes, 38; Sergeant Jacinto Roches, 42, who is attached to the Internal Affairs Desk in Belmopan; and Harold Usher, 36, a boatman at Customs Department. Another police officer of interest was Corporal Vidal Cahun, who has been charged for an unrelated firearm and ammunition charge. Attorney Dickey Bradley told Amandala, this morning that he is currently representing all 6 men. He said that he was under the impression that his clients were all brought to court so that the additional charges related to drug trafficking offenses could be added to the list of charges they already face, but this was not the case, and he said that there had been no clear indication if any additional charges would be added. But there would be further developments. All the six men went back to court this evening, but only five of them - Roches, Grant, Middleton, Humes, and Usher - were each read an additional charge, which was abetment to commit a crime, to wit, the importation of a controlled drug The charges detailed that on November 13, 2010, the five men all assisted with the landing of an aircraft, loaded with 2,921.04 kilograms of cocaine, in the area between Mile 56 and 57 on the Southern Highway. Bradley was not present at court when the men were brought back in the afternoon, and as a result, the men asked Chief Magistrate McKenzie for a little time to contact him. Unfortunately, he remained unavailable when the men were finally read their charges. No plea was taken from the men and no bail was granted. They have all been remanded until February 9, 2011. As we reported in a previous issue of the Amandala, they were intercepted in a van near the San Juan bus stop - that is, 21 miles from where the plane landed. The estimated value of the cocaine associated with this plane was $131 million Belize dollars. A court order was given for the destruction of the entire bust, which was conducted at a BSI facility in the Orange Walk District on November 22, 2010. Amandala
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#394589 - 12/11/10 10:20 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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 Lawrence Humes Six officers, including a Customs boatman, who were charged in connection with the landing of a drug plane on the Southern Highway on November thirteenth, were offered bail today. They were charged on Thursday with Abetment of a Crime for the Importation of a Controlled Drug by facilitating the landing of an aircraft with two thousand nine hundred and twenty-one kilos of suspected cocaine. But the bail granted today is for the initial charges of Possession of Unlicensed firearm and Ammunition.
 Jacinto Roches The charge which was brought against officers Lawrence Humes, Jacinto Roches, Vidal Cajun, Renel Grant, Nelson Middleton and Harold Usher came after the discovery of a single bullet inside an unmarked white van they were traveling in. The men were intercepted on the Southern Highway near its junction with the San Juan Road.
 Vidal Cajun Along with the single round police also found a number of items including battle dress, wet suits, GPS trackers and car batteries, leading them to believe that they orchestrated the landing and unloading of the King Air Beech Craft plane.
 Renel Grant Attorney for the men appeared at the Magistrate’s Court this afternoon on their behalf and four of them were offered bail in the sum of eight thousand dollars each for possession of the unlicensed ammunition.
 Nelson Middleton Freedom however, remains a distant dream for Humes, Roches, Grant and Middleton as the additional charge levied upon them was for an indictable offense. But Cajun, who was not charged with the importation of a controlled drug, was able to meet bail by midday.
 harold usher Meanwhile the group’s attorney Dickie Bradley is set to file a bail application for the remaining four cops. Channel 5
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#406562 - 04/29/11 05:12 PM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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Author: Adele Ramos
A report carried widely in the US media over the past weekend titled, “Drug gangs muscle into new territory: Central America”, indicates that the drug plane that landed here in Belize last November, in the record drug bust of cocaine valued at roughly $130 million, was the very same confiscated drug plane that had been stolen from the Honduran military days earlier, but taken to Venezuela before being brought into Belize with Columbian cocaine.
Police Minister Douglas Singh told Amandala Wednesday, April 27, that Belize police had checked with their Honduran counterparts, but they were not able to corroborate the registration number of the plane.
Last November, Belize police had reported the registration number of the twin-engine plane as N786B. Amandala’s search today for that registration number led us to a much smaller 4-seater plane with a single engine, certainly unable to be used in the large drug operation that occurred last November.
The official information from Belize police indicated that the plane that was found on the Southern Highway is a black, red and white Beechcraft Super King Air 200. The one to which the registration number N786B is assigned is a Beech A35 model.
The plane confiscated in Belize is the exact same model of the plane reported missing from Honduras, but which had provisional Mexican registration numbers: XB-K556/XB-KSC. However, the paint design is different.
Since Singh told us that there was no confirmation that the drug plane, still parked in Belize, was the confiscated drug plane stolen from the Honduran military last November, we contacted the Honduran Embassy in Belize, to see if they could provide more clarity.
A spokesperson from the Embassy told us that they were also informed that the particulars of the planes did not match—but that another query has been made with Honduran authorities following our newspaper’s request for information.
Amandala lastly contacted the author of the story carried in the US media, Tim Johnson, who is Mexico Bureau Chief for McClatchy Newspapers, which includes Miami Herald, Kansas City Star and The Tribune newspapers in the USA. Johnson told us that he had obtained the information from his security sources. He pointed us to information posted on a French website (http://morice.7duquebec.com/?p=842), which indicates that the registration number of the plane found in Belize appeared to be hastily posted on it.
This information is interesting in light of recent incidents reported in Belize media that unauthorized changes in plane registration numbers were attempted openly at the Philip Goldson International Airport.
Furthermore, our newspaper was made to understand that the Hondurans are exploring a possible Belize connection with a major bust in San Pedro Sula on the 17th of last month, in which they uncovered a jungle processing facility, an arsenal of weapons, and cocaine paste.
The McClatchy news report said, “Drug cartels now control large parts of the countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America. They’ve bought off politicians and police, moved cocaine processing laboratories up from the Andes, and are obtaining rockets and other heavy armament that make them more than a match for Central America’s weak militaries.”
It also cites burgeoning political influence in the drug trade.
Belize Police Minister Singh told us that his team is hoping to strengthen collaboration with officials in Honduras, and they have a meeting slated for June to discuss the problem of crime.
Singh also informed Amandala that the Belize Defence Force (BDF) has made an argument for the use of the confiscated Beechcraft.
Amandala understands that another drug plane nabbed in a similar landing on the Northern Highway in 2008 and sold via auction has been repaired and is parked at the Philip Goldson International Airport. Amandala
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#406567 - 04/29/11 05:59 PM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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Yes, the plane is still there and called July Morning.
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#413978 - 08/16/11 10:04 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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 On Saturday, media reports in South America linked a major drug bust in Venezuela to Belize. According to the newspaper, La Patilla, a Super King Air was busted with millions of dollars worth of cocaine. Several law enforcement officers were implicated in the bust and two of them were shot during the incident. But that is not where the only coincidence lies with the last year’s largest narco-trafficking bust in the Jewel. The newspaper was claiming that the plane, when its registration was checked on airframes.org, linked to Belize. It claimed that the drug plane was the same one that landed on the Southern Highway in Belize on November tenth, 2010. The website furnished pictures of the Belize incident and also alleged the plane was sold to a company in Florida and consequently resold to owners in Venezuela. But News Five spoke to Belize Defense Force Chief of Staff who refutes the allegation.
Lieutenant Colonel David Jones, B.D.F. Chief of Staff
 David Jones “What I can tell you from the time that aircraft was in the drug bust on the Southern Highway. From the time that aircraft was flown into the Philip Goldson and then subsequently held by the Belize Defence Force, we still have that aircraft. That aircraft is currently at our B.D.F. air wing. And it is going to remain there until we get further direction from our government. As far as to the reports, I don’t know where they got their information, but we still have that aircraft—it hasn’t move sicne and it’s not going to move now.”
Jose Sanchez
“What they did was that they linked it through information received from different websites that track VIN numbers and they were saying that the aircraft was exported from Belize to the U.S. and back to Venezuela. So it is not the same aircraft?”
 Lieutenant Colonel David Jones
“It must be a different aircraft because we still have the aircraft we captured on the highway. We still have it in custody and it is going to remain there.”
Jose Sanchez
“The minister of police says that the aircraft will in the future belong to the B.D.F. for future use. Will it be part of your air wing?”
Lieutenant Colonel David Jones
“That has been in discussion that possibly it will go to the Belize Defence Force. If it does go to us, then it will be part of our air wing. But that hasn’t been finalized as yet with the government so we are not sure of that yet. But that is the plan if it does happen and of course the B.D.F. would love to have it at the air wing.” Channel 5
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#414678 - 08/25/11 08:56 AM
Re: DRUG PLANE LANDS IN SOUTHERN BELIZE
[Re: Marty]
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The story of a major drug bust in Venezuela on the 13th of this month has led all the way back to Belize. The seizure of 1.400 kilos of cocaine by Venezuelan security forces was indeed something for that country's government to celebrate, especially after coming under constant criticism from Washington for its shortcomings in combatting the narco-trafficking.
But the story took another twist after that country's Minister of the Interior and Justice departments, Tareck El Aissami, announced that the Beechcraft 300 aircraft used to transport the drugs, carried call letters belonging to the Beechcraft 300, similar to the one involved in one of Belize's biggest drug busts on the southern highway last November.
An investigation by Globovision, a Venezuelan TV revealed that the call letters that identified the Beechcraft 300 captured by Venezuelan authorities, are really those belonging to the one currently in possession by Belize's Defence Force.
The BDF's Acting Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel, James Requena told Seven News today while there might be copycat call letters on both planes, one thing is sure, and that is the Beechcraft 300 involved in last November's drug bust on the Southern Highway is still in this country's possession.
Lieutenant Colonel James Requena - BDF's Acting Chief of Staff
"The discrepancy, from our point of view, would be the tail number on the aircraft. As you can clearly see, on the tail of the aircraft that we have behind us the numbers were stickered on. These stickers can be made or bought by anyone and placed on the aircraft. When you're flying an aircraft with stickered numbers, it is hard to verify that it is stickered and not the original number. But this aircraft has been here since November 14, when it was flown from the Southern Highway, and it has been here at the BDF Airwing."
Jim McFadzean
"Are you saying that these letters that are on the tail-wing can be changed like a license plate on a car?"
Lieutenant Colonel James Requena
"Yes, definitely, the tail letters can be changed. All you need to do is find a legally registered one, take a photograph of it, and you make your own stickers, and stick them on. When the plane is flying, from afar, the numbers look alike. All you have to be careful with is that you don't land at an authorized airstrip, and another aircraft is there, or has been to landing site, because they will know for sure that you are flying an aircraft that is not duly registered."
Jim McFadzean
"How do Civil Aviation Authorities verify the legal registration for these aircrafts."
Lieutenant Colonel James Requena
"Well, from my understanding, Civil Aviation is associated/affiliated with the International Aviation Association. And they keep track of all aircraft, from the manufacture, to whom they are sold, to the final destination. So any aircraft that is made has a paper trail, or an electronic trail, in these days that can be followed."
Jim McFadzean
"And have we determined here in Belize, the origin of this plane, the proper authorized registration paper trail, so to speak, that we have in our possession."
Lieutenant Colonel James Requena
"At present, we haven't fully verified the exact ownership, but from the model and the company, we know when it was manufactured and everything."
Jim McFadzean
"At the least right now, you can that the plane that the Venezuelan Authorities are saying is in Venezuela is physically here in Belize."
Lieutenant Colonel James Requena
"Most definitely, the aircraft that we have here is the aircraft that we brought in on the 14th from the Southern Highway, and the aircraft that they have - I'm not sure which aircraft they are presenting to their people and to the international community."
Requena says the BDF hopes to eventually take ownership of the aircraft which they plan to use in some cases for Troop Deployment and VIP transport. Channel 7
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