Bz. Customs Officer arrested on drug boat

His name is Ari Curtis Vanzie and tonight he’s one Belizean in a whole lot of trouble. Vanzie, a Customs Officer, was one of four men picked up at sea by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter on August twenty-third, approximately fifty-five miles south of Jamaica. On board Vanzie’s vessel was a whopping three thousand, six hundred and fifty pounds of cocaine. A Navy plane first spotted the drug boat, but it was a marksman from a Coast Guard helicopter that shot out its engine and then watched as the suspects tossed their precious cargo into the sea. Within minutes all four suspects were detained by the U.S. officials. The mariners have since been identified as Alberto Jessi, William Britton and Eladio Hooker-Myles, nationalities unknown, and Ari Curtis Vanzie, a native of the Cayo District. The Belizean and his three colleagues were initially held at the Pinellas County Jail in Florida, but have since been transferred to the nearby U.S. Marshals Facility in Hillsboro County, near Tampa. According to officials from the U.S. Marshals Office, Vanzie has been charged with one count of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Comptroller of Customs Everard Lopez told News 5 this morning that Vanzie was on vacation at the time of his arrest and had been stationed in Punta Gorda. Vanzie has been an employee with the department for around five years. And while there is little doubt about whether he will be seeing Belize any time soon, there are several questions that immediately come to mind: like why was Vanzie on the boat in the first place? Where was the vessel coming from and what was its final destination? Questions that only Vanzie and the other men on board can answer.