Police display confiscated and contributed guns

With more high-powered guns than potholes on the streets of Belize, the Police Department is under pressure to get them out of the hands of the criminals. Over the last four days, they’ve rousted the usual suspects, spent hours manning roadblocks and linked up with the Ombudsman’s office; their efforts haven’t been in vain. Today, the department showed off several assault rifles, handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition they managed to collect. According to Senior Superintendent Crispin Jeffries, the weapons are a by-product of the drug trade.

Senior Superintendent Crispin Jeffries

“We realise that the constant flow of drugs through our borders is accompanied by a number of firearms. From the appearance of the firearms, it is clear that these firearms have been exposed to salt air. So, we can connect it to that.”

Janelle Chanona

“Given that a number of these weapons are of high powered, can we say that these are the types of weapons being used in regular interaction?”

Inspector Crispin Jefferies

“Well we don’t see a lot of it being used in our street incidents, but they are becoming part of the everyday armament of the people who operate in the drug environment.”

According to the Police, Lionel Castillo of the Ombudsman’s Office was instrumental in convincing several people to hand in their unlicensed guns and ammunition. No charges have been levied against those individuals who voluntarily brought in their weapons.