Minor Pleads Guilty to Firearm Possession, Associates Remanded to Custody

A trio of men is tonight on remand at the Belize Central Prison after being busted with an unlicensed firearm, as well as a stash of marijuana.  Twenty-year-old Shakedi Baizar, proprietor of a bike shop in the West Lake area of the Mile Eight Community, along with two relatives were nabbed on Wednesday when personnel from the Gang Suppression Unit raided the premises.  During the mid-afternoon sweep the officers discovered a three-eighty caliber pistol with six live rounds of ammunition and a transparent plastic bag containing fifty-one grams of cannabis.  The bag of weed had been stashed inside a speaker box in the shop.  In court this morning, all three persons, including a seventeen-year-old minor, appeared unrepresented before Magistrate Carlon Mendoza.  According to the teenager, he received the weapon from a friend of his who has since moved abroad.  The young man told the court that he has been in possession of the firearm and carries it with him for protection since there is reportedly a threat on his life.  While a guilty plea was accepted in court, Shakedi Baizar and Sherman Samuels who pleaded not guilty to the firearm and ammunition offences were remanded into custody until December tenth.