Coast Guard Personnel Allegedly Detained for More Than 48 Hours
As we told you on Thursday, the Police Department is denying that there is any update in the case of the three fishermen missing for one month. The Department also denies that Coast Guard personnel were detained over the Independence weekend in connection with that disappearance. But today we spoke to attorney Dickie Bradley who told us that he got the call Friday night, hours after his client was detained in Benque and transported to the Queen Street Police Station.
Dickie Bradley, Attorney
Dickie Bradley
“He has complained and his family has complained that a team of armed Police officers descended on his home in the presence of his wife and children as if somehow he was some fugitive or criminal. He was detained way beyond the forty-eight hours. This is a man who has given more than a dozen years of service to the Coast Guard of Belize being treated like some criminal with a long list of incarcerations and offences. The whole family came down to Belize City and basically camped out at the Queen Street Police Station. This would be…Friday would have been the 18th of September, the 19th of September, the 20th of September…it is the night of the 20th of September that one of those persons were released. That person and all the Coast Guard who were on patrol around the time of the boat having gone missing have all turned in full reports to their Commandant. This is a difficult case. There is a boat which is missing, men are missing…there is no indication as far as I know that anybody has been stabbed or shot or whatever. So it is difficult but yes, if your question is were they detained on separate occasion for the full forty-eight and beyond…yes that happened.”
