Three cops interdicted for shaking down businessman

Three more police officers are in trouble tonight, accused of planting drugs on a businessman and trying to shake him down for a bribe. The man who blew the whistle is a Taiwanese Belizean of St. Mark Street in Caribbean Shores. He reported to the police Internal Affairs Department that around five a.m. on February eleventh a group of police officers searched his house. One of them produced a small bag of suspected cocaine which he told the homeowner had been discovered on the premises, saying that he and his family would have to be detained. It was then explained, however, that payment of a few thousand dollars could make the whole matter disappear.

As a result of the victim’s complaint, disciplinary charges have been filed against Corporal Samuel Bonilla, Corporal Clifford Alvarez and Constable Emerson Castillo. They have been formally accused of Acting with Prejudice to Good Order and Discipline, and Bringing the Police Department into Disrepute. Their disciplinary tribunal will begin on March eleventh. In the meantime the three accused cops remain on interdiction at half pay.