23 picked up in drug raid
Besides the latest on the recent spate of murders, the police also announced today that a pre-dawn raid in known drug hot spots in the city resulted in twenty-three people being taken into custody. The joint operation between C.I.B. and the Dragon Unit was dubbed “Operation Surprise”. Although only crack cocaine was found, and a small amount at that, A.I.P. Mark Flowers, Deputy Commander of the Dragon Unit says there have been searches of the area before but they have always come up empty-handed. Flowers says this latest effort was prompted by a request from the Criminal Investigations Branch for support in addressing drug trafficking in the city. The operation which started as early as four this morning involved searches of homes in areas such as Mayflower Street, popularly known as the Bailar base. At this location police arrested eight persons including two B.D.F. soldiers and Jane Smith and her children. According to Flowers, an eighteen year old girl was found with ten grams of cocaine in her hand, and two others, even smaller amounts were found in film canisters which the police say the family was attempting to throw out their window when the unit arrived in the area. A.I.P. Flowers and A.I.P. Simeon Alvarez gave us a rundown of Operation Surprise and showed us one of the deadly weapons they confiscated.
A.I.P. Mark Flowers, Commander, Operation Surprise
“This was a very organized operation and one that had the intelligence aspect to it providing detailed information as to where certain elements were and the information regarding drugs and drug trafficking which is certainly a menace in the city.
In an effort to make an impression on the drug traffickers, particularly here in Belize City, the Dragon Unit has reorganized itself and I was recently appointed Commander of Operations in that unit.
Working alongside Inspector Alvarez here in Belize City we will be conducting surgical operations every so often in Belize City as well as other parts of the country but primarily in Belize City and we will also be focussing on incidents of very serious nature crimes in the city.
In our raids this morning we came across this stun gun that has also been implicated in some degree in these horrendous crimes at sea. It has been used by some of these people and we were fortunate to have recovered it this morning in the possession of Winston James.”
Q: “Why is it said to be connected?”
A.I.P. Simeon Alvarez, Head of C.I.B.
“Basically these types of instruments, whenever these guys would go out at sea in search of drugs and they would come across somebody that they believe has drugs in their possession, they would crucify that person with this type of instrument. By just pressing the button and then it just shock you. It’s like a heavy interrogation. It’s like electricity into your system and this is what they use it for.”
The stun gun was confiscated from Winston James who is presently detained for questioning in the triple murder of Franklin and his crew at sea. Jane Smith, one of the two people who pleaded guilty in Magistrate’s Court this afternoon was fined five hundred dollars for possession of drugs and an additional one thousand dollars for drug trafficking. The second person charged was a minor. The others taken into custody following the raid were released without being charged.
