A week after the Police's Anti Drug Unit made its record seizure of 5,238 pounds of cocaine, the drugs were destroyed today. Our 7NEWS team accompanied the convoy from Belize City to Cayo and Alfonso Noble reports on what it's like to see US$83 million in drugs go up in white smoke.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
Under the watch and guard of heavy police security, form before 6:00 this morning, Anti-Drug unit personnel carted and loaded the 99 bales of cocaine into the awaiting ADU transport, known as the "bread van." Once the van was loaded up the drugs were escorted by the Special Patrol Unit, ADU personnel and BDF officers who formed a convoy to a furnace at an undisclosed location in the Cayo District. Throwing the first packs into the fire was officer-commanding ADU, ASP Joseph Myvette.
ASP Joseph Myvette, ADU Commander
"Basically we are destroying the large shipment of drugs that was found last week Monday in the Tobacco Caye Range. We are chopping apart the packages so that it can open, it will be able to burn easier. After chopping it, we are putting it in the furnace to allow it to be burnt."
And while it may be a simple procedure there are mechanisms put in place to ensure that what is being tossed into the fire is indeed the drugs found.
ASP Joseph Myvette,
"For this reason we have brought the chemist along and she'll be taking random samples to ensure that it is indeed the drugs that was found."
Alfonso Noble,
Besides the police, who all are the other people present?
ASP Joseph Myvette,
"We also have the Clerk of Court, a Magistrate, as well as a Justice of the Peace who are here as witnesses. Along we also have the Police's Scenes of Crime Unit as well."
These persons are here to witness the process as well as to keep tabs that the quantity of drugs being destroyed correspond with the seizure. It's a tedious process where every single bale is opened, and then the parcels that are inside the bale are put on display for cross checking, and then the officers began chopping open the packs. Going at a pace of about 7 bales an hour, the smoke plume out of the chimney was all that was left as the intense heat bursting out of the furnace and the watchful vigilance of the BDF ensured that every single bail met its final destination in the fire.
At news time, the drugs were still being burnt and should finish in the next 30 minutes. As we've reported the drugs were found on a small islet in the Tobacco Caye Range. They were buried in the sand under a house and were believed to have been stored there for transshipment to Mexico. No one has been charged.
