It's one of the largest single day ecstasy seizures ever recorded anywhere and tonight, Belize's Anti-drug Unit has recovered 228,153 Ecstasy pills valued at U.S. $5.7 million.
The seizure was made at Target Data Pro in the Data Pro Export Processing Park at the junction of the Northern Highway and the Burrell Boom road. The company is licensed to operate as an online pharmacy, selling legitimate drugs but it turns out it was operating primarily as a clandestine ecstasy lab. The drug unit descended on Target's warehouse last week Thursday and for the past 5 days officers have literally been bagging and counting hundreds of thousands of ecstasy pills.
Today, one man was charged and he is the local Accountant Guillermo Pech Jr. In court this afternoon, he was read 16 counts of drug trafficking to which he pleaded not guilty. The charges of are for restricted drugs including pills for depression, specifically Xanax, weight loss, Didirex, and tranquilizers, specifically Valium and of course, Ecstasy. In total Pech was charged for 383,000 illegal pills, and 22 kilograms of pills powder. He was offered bail of $15,000, but did not meet it and will spend the night in remand.
It's a heavy rap and Pech is only the accountant, the manager who is also a Belizean is out of the country as are the two owners, American men. One of them, known to us as Jared Wheet, slipped out of his residence at a local hotel, the day after the police moved in. So far police investigations show that Target would accept online orders for Ecstasy and other drugs, and send them right out of the Belize Post Office in DHL envelopes. Typically, the drug would be concealed in magazines, placed in the envelope and looking like regular mail would slip past postal authorities. In Belize that omission was particularly gainful as Target reportedly did tens of thousands of dollars in business every month with the local post office.
And again, while most of the Product was shipped out, some of it was smuggled out by local employees and the Ecstasy pill with the playboy logo has been circulating on the city streets. After this r3ecord seizure, the DEA which came in to observe the operation last week is expected to follow up with some federal indictments. And while U.S. authorities follow up, the Belize Customs Department also has to answer some tough questions including the fact that massive quantities of prohibited substances were imported by Target Data Pro without a permit.
†Trace this story through our archives from the first raid to last week's big bust:
. Police Investigate Irregularities at Data Pro Park
. Police Raid Target Data Pro