BATSUB still investigating missing grenades
While the gangs have agreed to a truce, there is still the lingering fear that grenades will continue to pop up in the city streets. Police have arrested and charged their main suspect in connection with the latest grenade blast two weeks ago that claimed the life of fourteen year old Rudolph Flowers. That explosive device and five others have been traced to the British Forces supply. But it remains a mystery how the grenades, a total of twenty-four, went missing from British military custody and ended in the hands of gangs members. Today News Five visited the British Army Training Support Unit Belize, BATSUB in Ladyville to find out from its new commander how the grenades went missing.
Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay, Commdr., BATSUB
“I’m afraid at the moment as a result of that it is still impossible to state exactly what happened and how they went missing or were stolen. And it may well be that as a result of this arrest and the success of the Belizean police in that, that might actually help them to find out exactly who did this”
Marion Ali
“Where exactly did the grenades go missing? Was it from the storeroom here on compound or was it in transit from Britain to Belize?”
Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay
“Again, that is something that the investigation looked at and we’re not certain. It would seem potentially more likely to have been taken from the ammunition compound but we cannot confirm that. But again, I think the only thing now that is going to confirm how exactly they went missing is when the culprit is found and that is clearly a police lead. “
Marion Ali
“How more stringent are the measures in securing these types of deadly weapons from ever getting into civilian hands?”
Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay
“Well, we made certain steps to improve our procedures. For example, when training takes place, grenades are signed for on an individual basis and then handed back or accounted for on an individual basis. And that’s not just by the individual they are issued to, it’s also by the safety staff who are overseeing the training activity that takes place. And equally—that’s from a training point of view—equally within the ammunition compound at the end of last year, we spent quite a lot of money improving our defenses and we made significant steps forward to improve the security infrastructure of the ammunition compound. Nothing is completely foolproof but we have made significant steps to make sure that no further grenades go missing.”
Marion Ali
“One officer had suggested to me during an interview some years ago, that the grenade may have gone missing in jungle training and it probably fell out of some soldiers pockets and was found by civilians who go there and later brought it back to the streets. What kind of cleaning up do you do, so to speak, when you go to jungle training so whatever kind of weapons are lost or dropped in the jungle don’t remain there?
Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay
“Well, after each exercise that takes place, we go through the same areas that we had been exercising on with a group of Belizeans who work within the training ring at BATSUB and we ensure that any of the, for example, the empty cases that had been used are cleared out and then there’s a member of BATSUB who goes around and checks.”
Marion Ali
“There are some Belizeans who have suggested—some very high ranking ministers of government—that BATSUB ought to be sued for what has happened. Your very deadly, lethal weapons, not intended for use on the streets, have gotten into the hands of civilians and have been deadly to our youths and to our populace. How do you respond to that suggestion?”
Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay
“Well, I’m no lawyer and I don’t know exactly what the legal situation would be for this situation that we’ve found ourselves in. It’s quite clear to me that the people who are to blame are the people who have been throwing and who have still got hold of the grenades.”
Marion Ali
“But we don’t make those kinds of lethal devices here. They come from…”
Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay
“Yes, I fully appreciate that as far as the grenades getting into the gangs or whoever got them in the first place, that something somewhere has gone wrong. But the legal position of BATSUB within that, well I’m no lawyer and I really couldn’t comment and if people are making those suggestions, clearly the force will need to look at that.”
