Five charged in November kidnapping
Tonight, four well known Belizean men have been arrested and charged with kidnapping. According to Assistant Inspectors of Police, Charles Galvez and Simeon Alvarez investigations have led them to strongly believe that Andrew “Papa” Brown, Winston “Tanga” James, Francis Guy, James Hyde and Lionel “Toe Nail” Kelly were involved in the kidnapping of the Requeña Family in Gales Point Manatee in November and the subsequent kidnapping of Charles Leslie in Belize City. According to Galvez and Alvarez who held a press briefing this evening, at this point police also believe the disappearance of the Garbutt family and the subsequent triple homicide of Emil Franklin and his crew may be related to a series of cocaine “wet drops” reportedly made in a lagoon at Gales Point Manatee and at sea, sometime between November and December of last year. The C.I.B. officials stress that although they have no evidence linking the five men charged today to the Garbutt and Franklin incidents, the way the men operated in the previous kidnappings are similar to what may have occurred in these cases at sea. According to A.I.P. Charles Galvez, the Deputy Commander of the Criminal Investigations Branch on November 16th, 1998 about two that morning, Wallingford Requeña and his common law wife Margaret Vernon were sleeping in their house in the village of Manatee when they heard a knocking on the front door. When the couple got up to investigate, they heard persons from outside identifying themselves as policemen. But when Miss Vernon opened the door, three armed men, all wearing camouflage gear entered the house. According to the police, Requeña was hit several times and then questioned about some hidden cocaine. Requeña was then taken out to a car parked outside and driven to the Coastal Road where he was further interrogated about the missing drugs. According to C.I.B., Requeña was taken back to his house where the kidnappers then put his wife and the couple’s three children, ages four to seven years old in the back seat of the car and driven to Belize City. The victims were then placed in the back of a pickup truck and taken to Papa Brown’s residence in the Belama area. There, the police allege Brown was sitting in a boat then took the family by sea back to Gales Point Manatee. But during the trip back the kidnappers came upon two men fishing in a lagoon. The men identified as Gilbert Moore and Albert Welch were then also kidnapped and placed in the same boat along with the Requeña family and all hostages were once again interrogated. They were then taken out of the boat and taken in an area in the village where they were beaten. It is then police say Welch made good his escape. The remaining hostages were then released at a pier. The Requeñas then made a report to police. According to police during the time Requeña was being tortured he did hand over a kilo of cocaine to the men.
A.I.P. Charles Galvez, Dep. Commander, C.I.B.
“To my mind it was a wet drop and the person who ought to have picked it up may have left something afloat.”
Q: “Is this incident related to Emil Franklin and the Garbutts?”
A.I.P. Charles Galvez
“From the investigation so far, when looking at the way these guys took kids from that house that early morning and these kids — ages four to seven — and they were driven all the way to Belize City and then they were placed in a boat that took them all the way back to Gales Point by sea now that action is saying something very, very dangerous.”
Q: “So you all are saying that just how easily they could have taken these kids, the same thing they could have probably done to the Garbutt kids?”
A.I.P. Charles Galvez
“Exactly, there is no mercy there. I cannot say that they were the ones involved but the modus operandi is there; the way how they acted. It would appear that it is a common practice. My belief is if Welch did not escape, that family I know would have gone the way that other person have gone missing.”
A.I.P. Simeon Alvarez, Head of C.I.B.
“It is of the opinion that definite the missing Garbutts, the Emil Franklin crew, they were targets because of the missing drugs that went missing out at caye and it is just around this time that Charles Leslie was actually kidnapped by these people and the incident down in Manatee was again a drug related incident.
Charles Leslie reported that on December 23rd he was on the way home on Mahogany Street around eight that night when he was intercepted by a green pickup driven by Winston “Tanga” James. He was properly cornered, three men came out, force Leslie in the vehicle. They were armed with machine gun, a mock 11 and 380 pistols. He was forced in the green pickup and his vehicle was driven by this green pickup to mile 5 on the Western Highway where he was interrogated and tortured by these persons. While he was there he was also informed that 2 holes had already been dug out for him and a friend of his, meaning they do not come up with the drugs they would be murdered and placed in the holes.
Apparently Mr. Leslie decided to give them some information and went to locate another friend of Leslie’s where that person was and about half an hour later that person was brought to mile 5. He went through the same punishment. Luckily he was not murdered and eventually both were released. Leslie’s vehicle was given back to him, interrogation about 2 to 3 hours and escorted back to Belize City.
Today now we have Winston “Tanga” James, Lionel Kelly, Francis Guy Dawson and Andrew Brown and all will be charged and taken to court tomorrow for kidnapping, aggravated assault and a series of other charges. All four will be charged jointly with this particular incident.
We are studying the modus very carefully, we are studying the modus, how they did this operation in Manatee and on the Western Highway and we are studying with the missing Garbutt family and the Franklin situation. We are now looking at that particular angle because as I mentioned a blue and white boat was seen in that area. Now we have two blue and white boats, the boat belonging to Papa Brown and the boat belonging to “Raindrops” so we are looking at those angles at this time.”
In other police news, Simeon Alvarez categorically denied a statement made today by Attorney Simeon Sampson that his client James Hyde was tortured by one Inspector Eli Salazar. Alvarez says whenever persons are arrested they normally cry police brutality just to get public sympathy. Alvarez says he would like to assure the general public that the police will not be intimidated and will vigorously pursue criminals without fear.
