23 Kilos of Suspected Cocaine Found In Ambergris Caye
A significant drug discovery was made on La Isla Bonita on Sunday morning. Twenty-three kilos of suspected cocaine were found two miles north of the Boca Del Rio Park, which is about 50 pounds. The discovery was made after authorities were tipped off. San Pedro Police accompanied by G.S.U. officers visited northern Ambergris Caye where they discovered a crocus sack; containing twenty tightly seal packages with the Apple logo, a full stop and the number seven. One of the packages was opened and officers confirmed that it contained ‘hard packed powdery substance suspected to be cocaine’. No arrests were made and the area where the drugs were found is a favourite spot for ‘playadores’ who search that portion of the island, looking for ‘wet drops’. According to Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, the wet drop is believed to be part of a larger operation, originating from a South American country.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
Chester Williams
“We know that we have received information of some wet drop and once those drugs reach the hands of criminals or even persons who do not want to be criminals, it can have deadly consequences. I don’t want to give a value. I will ask you to do it yourself. I don’t know. If you value each pack at fifteen thousand then you can do the math from there.”
Reporter
“Sir are you able to describe the packaging and do you all have intelligence as to where these particular items came from?”
Chester Williams
“I’m not going into details to describe the packaging. We do believe that it came from somewhere from South America.”
Reporter
“Do you believe that it is part of a larger wet drop?”
Chester Williams
“Well we have to look at it that way. I don’t think that anybody would just drop twenty kilos of cocaine somewhere. More than likely yes, it is part of a larger wet drop. Hence the reason why I have said that we maintain our operational presence out in San Pedro to see if there will be anymore that would surface.”
Andrea Polanco
“Sir, it didn’t appear to be concealed as if it was being hidden?”
Chester Williams
“Of course it was but the police officers are good in our operational strategies and they were able to find it. Well we do believe that someone had found it and they had stashed it and we found their stash. Yes, normally whenever you hear about wet drops you normally see that Northern San Pedro becomes really active with gang members and drug dealers, walking the beach, looking to see if they will be able to find any. So we continue our efforts in those areas to see how we can minimize the occurrence of these activities. The parcels were taken to the San Pedro Town Police Station where samples were taken from each of them and those samples were sent to the lab today for testing to verify if in fact the content of those parcels are indeed cocaine. The officer commanding San Pedro was also tasked to ensure the twenty parcels were brought into Belize City. So we currently have them in Belize City now and once the testing is done and we receive the confirmation then we are going to move to destruction. We do not want to keep them in our custody for too long. At the end of the day I know that the public has been very skeptical of the police but I can assure the Belizean people that whatever was turned and what we reported is exactly what we found. We are ensuring that we are doing everything that needs to be done to prevent any tampering of those suspected cocaine.”
Last week, a Colombian drug plane bound to the U.S. crashed landed fifty-five miles south of Chetumal, Mexico. Online Mexican newspapers report that authorities in Mexico believe that the drug plane reportedly landed in southern Belize for about an hour. It later landed in northern Belize for less than an hour before taking off and crashing over the Mexican side of the border. Inside the plane, authorities found one point three tons of cocaine.
