Bail Denied for Mountain Pine Ridge Six
One of two individuals believed to have landed an aircraft laden with narcotics in Mountain Pine Ridge on Sunday is under police guard at the Western Regional Hospital tonight. He is recovering from injuries sustained when the drug plane crash landed on a crude runway near Hidden Valley. Police were back on the scene today combing the area in search of the illicit cargo, as well as another man whom they suspect may have also been the pilot. They were successful in confiscating a significant quantity of cocaine in the vicinity. In the lower court in San Ignacio this afternoon, six men, including a police officer and a Mennonite farmer from Spanish Lookout, appeared before Magistrate Gordon where they were read charges related to the illegal landing of that aircraft. Those men are: Miguel Angel Zetina, Edwin Armando Gonzalez, Jaime Umberto Maz, Edilberto Medrano, Salus Penner and police officer Eric David Young. Four of them are represented by attorney Bryan Neal and the remaining two, including Young, are represented by attorney Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley. After listening to submissions from both sides, the magistrate denied the men bail, remanding them to the Belize Central Prison until an application can be made successfully at the Supreme Court. When News Five spoke with attorney Bryan Neal this afternoon, he told us that his clients were on a routine hunting and camping expedition in the Mountain Pine Ridge area and when they were exiting that location, they were pulled over by police at a checkpoint.
Bryan Neal
On the Phone: Bryan Neal, Attorney-at-law
“They left around twelve o’clock on Saturday afternoon, they entered the Mountain Pine Ridge area on a hunting/camping trip and they were leaving and they were leaving the Mountain Pine Ridge area and were apprehended by the police at a checkpoint in the Mountain Pine Ridge area, a well known checkpoint that is there. The images that I have seen and they have shared with me were from previous hunting trips, but on that night nothing was shot or nothing was caught.”
Isani Cayetano
“Is there any particular aspect of this matter that you can share with us preliminarily, without perhaps going into too much details?”
Bryan Neal
“I can share with you that nothing incriminating in terms of what my clients were charged with, they were charged under Section Thirty of the Civil Aviation Act, that they conspired with others to land a plane. There is no evidence whatsoever in the police possession that I saw that would suggest that they were involved in the landing of any plane, nevertheless they were charged.”
Isani Cayetano
These individuals are members of the police department Can you tell us which one of them is or how many of them are?
Bryan Neal
“As far as I know, one member of the police department, Eric David Young, was charged along with my four clients and a Mennonite by the name of Salus Penner was also.”
Isani Cayetano
“Has there been an application for bail, or where do we stand on that matter?”
Bryan Neal
“We made an application this afternoon at one o’clock before Magistrate Gordon. She heard our arguments from the prosecution and as well as the arguments on behalf of the defense by myself and Mr. Arthur Saldivar, who was holding brief for ‘Dickie’ Bradley, and she refused bail after hearing all arguments. She said that, in her view, the offense was too prevalent and on that basis she denied bail.”
Isani Cayetano
“So I take it then that you will proceed to seek Supreme Court bail at a later date?”
Bryan Neal
“Yes, I have instructions to, as early as possible, put the matter before the Supreme Court for it to be considered again. It is quite normal in these circumstances. I thought that she could have granted bail, but we weren’t surprised when bail was in fact refused. I think a proper investigation ought to have been done. I can’t tell the police how to do their work, but I would challenge you, as a member of the media, or anybody else to go to the San Ignacio Police Station and look into that vehicle, inside that vehicle and you will see all the hunting gear that is in it. I don’t know why the police have not included that as part of their investigation and why they have rushed the charge. But as it stands now, we are trying to secure bail In respect of the charge. There is no suggestion that there was any drugs found on my clients, any implements to help land a plane, nothing whatsoever that I have seen to suggest that they are in fact guilty of landing a plane.”
