Burrell Boom Pastor in Court for “Weed” Suitcase

Mark Humes

The lucrative business, though very much unlawful, has seemingly expanded to include church ministers turned drug traffickers as well.  On Friday evening, forty-five-year-old Mark Humes, a pastor of Burrell Boom Village, was busted at a checkpoint near the corners of Victoria Street and New Road.  He was driving his taxi when he was pulled over and his vehicle was searched.  Police subsequently discovered a suitcase containing a quantity of suspected cannabis.  Along with Humes at the time of the search was a sixteen-year-old minor.  This morning, Humes, accompanied by attorney Herbert Panton, was brought before Magistrate Carlon Mendoza where he was arraigned along with the teenager on a charge of drug trafficking.  In court, he testified that while running his taxi he picked up a young man at the San Pedro Belize Express Water Taxi.  Humes was giving the individual a lift when he picked up another passenger.  That woman’s luggage was purportedly mixed up with the young man’s suitcase.  Humes pleaded not guilty and was granted bail in the sum of one thousand dollars, plus one surety of the same amount.