Two in cocaine bust out on bail quickly
Two men accused in a cocaine bust in Belize City this week were granted bail this morning in the sum of a hefty one hundred thousand dollars each by Supreme Court Judge, Adolph Lucas. Peter Schmitt, of Caye Caulker and Carlos Lopez, of Lord’s Bank, Ladyville, are facing drug trafficking, firearm and ammo charges for the possession of more than five kilos of cocaine. The men were arraigned on Wednesday and within hours their application for bail was filed. Since there was no objection by the crown bail was granted but with stringent conditions. Judge Lucas ordered that both petitioners surrender their travelling documents and in the case of Schmitt, he is not to apply for any other travel document without the permission of a judge of the Supreme Court. He is also not to get any renewals of his passport which he claims has expired. Judge Lucas made it clear that they are not to leave the jurisdiction without the permission of the court nor can they be arrested and charged for any offense while on bail. The duo is scheduled to return to court in March 2018. On December seventeenth, 2017, on High Crest Avenue in the Buttonwood Bay area, police say they pulled over a white vehicle in which they found five bricks of cocaine. Police claim the drugs were stuffed inside a knapsack placed on the backseat, while a nine millimetre pistol and eleven live rounds were found beneath the passenger seat of the vehicle.