Exhibit Keeper Held in Police Custody Pending Investigation

The individual employed by the Belize Police Department as an exhibit keeper is presently in custody, as an internal investigation continues.  According to Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa, there were no protocols that were followed in the disposal of the drug-laced candies and no permission was given to the exhibit keeper to discard the seizure.

Kareem Musa

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs

“The civilian exhibit keeper is currently detained by police pending this investigation because, as you would imagine, this might not just result in his termination, if it is that the investigation leads in that particular direction that he in fact discarded the edibles, but it can lead also to criminal charges.  We can look at possibly negligent harm, as a charge that can be imposed. I am extremely, extremely disappointed in the actions of this particular exhibit keeper because he has been employed with the department for the last ten years.  And so it cannot be that he is not aware of the procedures that should be followed when discarding substances that are held as exhibits.  For one, this is an active investigation that was awaiting results from the forensics department and so it doesn’t matter what you were smelling inside your exhibit room.  You have no authority to then take it upon yourself, without consulting the prosecutor, without consulting the Commissioner of Police and then to discard potential evidence in a criminal case.  And so that, definitely, is very concerning and, as I said, that could result in subsequent charges for this officer because the procedure, normally, is that you must first consult the head of department, the commander, rather, and in this case the commander of Prosecutions [Branch] is Ms. Alifah Elrington.”