Former B.D.F. corporal sought in connection to missing cache of high powered weapons

Dennis Ireland

Belize City police are tonight looking for one person, a former Belize Defense Force corporal, in connection with the disappearance of a cache of high powered weapons from a warehouse at the B.D.F. headquarters in Ladyville that was detected last week.  Dennis Ireland, a resident of Mahogany Street, is being sought for his suspected role in the theft of forty-two weapons of various models and calibers from the Price Barracks compound.  In the wake of the major security infraction, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Defense Allen Whylie recommended disciplinary measures to be taken against three ranking officers who, for various reasons, did not oversee the security of the weapons depot.  They are Deputy Commander Javier Castellanos, Captain Damian Amaya and Warrant Officer Roy Flores. Ireland, who is suspected to have been aided during the burglary, was busted in March 2010 with a single live round of five point five-six ammunition and twenty-seven expended seven point six-two shells in his pants pocket during a search of his person while in detention at the Queen Street Police Station.  As things go, the commandant of the B.D.F. was out of the country at the time of the burglary. From what we know, he was in Belmopan today along with his deputy, Castellanos, in high level meetings.