ComPol Williams Says Members of Security Forces, Belizeans Involved in Plane Landings

Unlike other instances when the police have come up empty-handed—only to find remnants of burnt planes—the Gulf Stream this morning was intercepted on the illegal airstrip loaded with sixty-nine bales of cocaine, worth millions.  In September 2018, police made a similar bust near Tres Leguas in Orange Walk. There, the cargo was found and two police officers, including a senior cop, were arrested, but a conviction was not secured.   As details began to emerge this morning, the question about police involvement in drug trafficking was raised with the Commissioner of Police when he appeared on Open Your Eyes.  Chester Williams conceded that there is local involvement.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“It is not as easy as you think it is, Marleni. It doesn’t work like that. And Gavin, being an attorney, will tell you. It is not because I know that this person is involved or suspect that these persons are involved that I can just go an arrest that person. There is a process that must occur. And drug traffickers aren’t foolish; they don’t go and save money in the bank. So you cannot go to F.I.U. and say give me so and so bank statements to see what money is put in the bank. We have done other things to target those persons. I’m not going to say them here because we will continue to monitor other persons we believe are involved. And yes, we understand and we know that there are people within our country, Belizeans, who are involved and coordinate these landings. And those are the persons we have been going after.”

Marleni Cuellar

“One of the main partners that people believe may be involved is whether it is persons who work within the police department or within the security forces or within the government.”

Chester Williams

“I’m not going to be naive and think that there are not persons within the security forces who are not involved. We have intelligence that says yes, they are certain persons in security forces involved and we are monitoring those persons as well. But at the end of the day, too, those persons are not going to move so stupidly to the extent that they will allow themselves to be caught. So it takes a whole deal of things to get where we want to go. But at the end of the day, you are right we believe that the security forces are involved and we continue to look at that.  No matter what we do, there will always be those persons who will not toe the line that you want them to toe. There is no perfect organization in the world.”