And there’s also reaction from the Ministry of National Security. General Lloyd Gillett who is now the CEO in the Ministry was the second in command at the BDF in 2004 when those grenades went missing. He today told us what he knew and when he knew it...but first said that the BDF has accounted for al its grenades.
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett, CEO Ministry of National Security
“We have asked the BDF to conduct an investigation of their stock and all the grenades that the BDF has received over the years are accounted for. They are either in stock or they are confirm used in training.
I read the transcript of Mr. Germain’s comments that 24 went missing in 2004. the BDF was not aware of that and the police was not aware of that and so we continue to investigate that along with the British forces. The police has been meeting with them to try and ascertain where those grenades went missing and how we can try and locate those grenades.
I really don’t know how many grenades are out there but what I can assure the Belizean people is that every effort is being made to try and recover grenades that are out on the streets.
Late this evening 7NEWS a senior source at the Ministry of National Security old us that Lt. Col. Germain has told them that while he informed the media on Thursday that the grenades had gone missing from their compound, today he cannot say where they went missing. It was late information and we could not reach Germain to confirm this position.
According to our source, the initial investigation conducted by the British Police indicate that after the container arrived in Belize and was taken to the military compound it was discovered to be empty and that there were no visible signs of forced entry. So the Ministry’s position remains that at this time the investigation has not been able to determine if the grenades went missing during transhipment or inside Belize. But we do know that one of them exploded in Belize two weeks ago.
