Accused Drug Traffickers denied bail
Three men who Police say were nabbed on Wednesday at a checkpoint in Ladyville with a hefty load of marijuana were today denied bail when they appeared before Senior Magistrate, Aretha Ford. The men, Ian Poot from Patchakan Village, Corozal, and Edwin Bowen and Eustace Andrews from Belize City, appeared with their attorneys, Ellis Arnold and Richard “Dickie” Bradley to answer to the charges before them. Poot, the nephew of former Deputy Prime Minister Hugo Patt, is accused of using a truck that is registered in the name of his two uncles, Hugo and Pedro Patt in the alleged trafficking of the drugs. Patt, who is now the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, has disassociated himself from the incident, issuing a release this evening saying he has no knowledge of what occurred, and denounced drug trafficking activities. Attorney Bradley spoke with News Five following the men’s arraignment, Bradley accused the police of abusing their authority when they detained a larger group of men pending charges.
Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney for the accused
Richard "Dickie" Bradley
“They have in fact been remanded to prison until the 15th day of July charged for a single count of being ion possession of drugs with the intention to supply to another and one person has been charged for supplying to another. What transpired from the information is that in fact some nine or seven persons were really detained and arrested and up to an hour ago was still at the Ladyville police station which would be beyond their 48 hours if they have not been released. They have complained bitterly that they were all forced to kneel on the street for over an hour. They showed their injuries, both the persons who were arrested and the others who were not char4ged, You know what is a strange thing, the Supreme Court this year gave a ruling, a decision, Justice Westmin laid down that you cannot detain people and hold them in a police station for a period of hours and they are not charged, the police still don’t get that they are depriving citizens of their liberty when you detain or arrest somebody and you don’t charge them. Now these men were allegedly found with some box or allegedly seen with some box in the area of a box which turned out to be drugs, They carries everybody, they kept them in the police station from Wednesday afternoon and now they can’t get in front of a Supreme Court judge. They believe that is malicious and deliberate to them.”
Bradley says the men involved in the sweep intend to bring a civil suit against the police department.
