B.D.F. soldier detained for carnival day grenade assault

Nineteen year old Richard Flores of Belize City was charged with Attempted Murder and other offences relating to the September sixth carnival day grenade scare and today there is another man in custody for the same incident … a B.D.F. soldier. Police are investigating the soldier for his possible involvement in facilitating the release of the deadly weapon to the streets. The private was picked up today and was questioned this afternoon at the Queen Street lock-up. Commissioner of Police, Gerald Westby and Assistant Commissioner Crispin Jeffries sat down with us to give an update on what has been unearthed so far in the investigations of the offensive grenade that was thrown at carnival spectators just outside the Karl Heusner Hospital.

Gerald Westby, Commissioner of Police
“We have had a meeting with the—coordinating meeting—with the British Forces and also with the B.D.F. There was information; allegations I must say and I need to be very careful. There are allegations that it may have come from a B.D.F. soldier but it is just pure allegation at this time. I need to re-emphasize that. So we have brought in an individual and we are interviewing but the point I want to get, there is nothing concrete at this time to say that yes, we can connect him to that. But the point is that the police is very serious and whatever … we will leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of these grenades. We have formed a dedicated Special Branch intelligence team to look at the source of these grenades.”

Crispin Jeffries, Assistant Commissioner of Police
“That is the reality; grenades are in the hands of young persons in the streets of Belize City. We have been looking and dealing with grenades in Belize for a long, long time. We have arrested and successfully convicted people for possession of grenades in Belize. We know that we have a forest border; we know that we are on the main transshipment route for drugs. So high powered rifles and grenades are a part of payment and a part of the armament for drug traffickers.”

Westby would not say what led them to the Private soldier they have in custody.