Cayo cops bust 4 for 15 lbs. of crack cocaine

Tonight four people are charged with drug trafficking following a major bust in the Cayo District. San Ignacio police say on Thursday they found seven kilos of crack cocaine buried in the back yard of a home in the Kontiki area of the town. Everyone inside the house was immediately detained and subsequently charged in connection with the find. They are Belizeans Gary Seawell, Findley Monsanto, Tanisha Ayuso and Trinidadian Juan Antonio Hernandez. According to investigators, they’d been working on this case for more than a week but yesterday decided to make their move. Officers jumped the fence just after lunch and found themselves face to face with several security cameras. The cops secured the location and began a search of the residence. When officers turned their attention to the backyard they found two jerry cans buried in the ground. Inside the fuel canisters were plastic bags containing some seven thousand one hundred and sixty grams or fifteen and three quarter pounds of processed crack cocaine. We understand that authorities also found a small quantity of marijuana and three crack pipes inside the house. Seawell, Monsanto, Ayuso and Hernandez were detained over night at the San Ignacio police station. Today they were arraigned in Magistrate’s Court on one count of Drug Trafficking, one count of Possession of Illicit Drugs and Possession of Utensils Used for Smoking of Dangerous Drugs. We understand that the house in question was rented by Ayuso’s mother. The same building was the previous home of sixty-three year old Deacon Donald Kostecki when he was killed there in March 2005. Police say his death and this week’s drug bust are not related. The foursome appeared in San Ignacio?s Magistrate Court this afternoon where they were remanded to Hattieville Prison until September twenty-seventh.