It's not as high profile as the United States Drug Enforcement Authority, but the United Nations Office of drugs and crimes made its presence known in Belize today when it handed over US $30,000 worth of drug testing kits.
The conveyance was made from the national drug abuse control council to law enforcement personnel.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
The 15 field-test kits will be distributed among the police, customs and fisheries department to aid them in detecting the illegal transshipment of precursors used for drug production. While countries like Belize do not necessarily produce drugs they do form part of larger networks of the transshipment of both the precursor to drugs and the drugs themselves.
Ornel Brooks, NDACC
"The Caribbean and Central American countries are not producers of cocaine but what occurs is that our countries are used to transship chemicals used to produce this substance for the producing countries. So there has to be the kind of mechanisms put in place for us to be able to detect at every level when these goods enter our country and attempt to pass through."
"In the event any suspicious substance are observed on the high seas, any of these departments that are on patrol will be able to use these kits for identification purposes."
Genoveva Marin,
"These would be common acids, the hydrochloric acids and solvents which are also commonly used for example ephedrine but they are all precursors which can be used in the produced of controlled substances."
And today those law enforcement personnel that are at the frontline of detection- the police, customs, and fisheries department received the first phase of training in the use of the testing kits. The necessity for the training, says Chief Forensic Analyst Genoveva Marin is vital because of the nature of detection.
Genoveva Marin,
"Law enforcement are the key personnel that would detect these substances out in the field, a police, a customs officer, even a officer from the fisheries officer on patrol so they need to be trained to detect these substances out in the field."
"The objective of this training is for them to use these kits properly and they will be able to say yes there is the presence of such substance and forward it to us for confirmation."
Ornel Brooks,
"As we go along more people will be trained, so there will be a cadre of police, customs, and fisheries officer trained in the use of these kits."
This is certainly a start but it is left to be seen if the new wave in drug detection in Belize will be sustainable and whether implementation will take effect.
There will be follow up training for the various departments to make sure they are using the new equipment.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited for the internet by Keith Swift