He had enough guns and ammo to qualify as a weapons dealer - and Certainly enough to send any young black male from the city's Southside to jail for a while.
But tonight an American man was offered bail - after he was found with four guns - one of them prohibited - and 332 rounds of live ammunition.
Yesterday morning at 8:12 am, police on maritime patrol searched 63-year-old Donald Kirizan's boat, "The Cat's Meow", which was anchored near Turneffe Island. They claim that when they boarded, Kirizan dropped a black bag behind a counter; and when police looked inside that bag they found a 40-caliber glock pistol, a prohibited 45-caliber pistol, a 22 pistol, and a 12-gauge shotgun. He also had quite a trove of live ammunition for those guns; a total of 332 live rounds, including 49 rounds of prohibited 45-caliber ammunition.
It's quite a weapons bust and when he appeared in Belize City Magistrate's court today, Kirizan was assessed with 10 gun and ammunition charges. Represented by attorney Lionel Welch, he told the court that he had some serious experience with intruders over the years and recently had threats made on his life.
The prosecutor did not object to bail, but requested that certain restrictions be placed on the bail - compelling him to appear weekly before the clerk of courts. But even that was too much for the good Mr. Krizan, Magistrate Margaret Gabb-Mckenzie granted him bail of $10,000, and did not require him to appear before the court and asked only that he surrender his travel documents and that his sureties be Belizean. Kirizan was unable to do that by the close of court today and he was taken into custody this evening until he can make proper bail arrangements tomorrow.
Under Belize's laws - even a person with a license can only have 100 live rounds or 50 cartridges; Kirizan had three times that amount all unlicensed. Also we note that bail is very rarely granted for a prohibited firearm such as Kirizan's 45 caliber pistol and if a person is found guilty of possession he is automatically sentenced to one year in prison.