In Friday's news, we told you about the drug bust on San Pedro, where police found over 3 kilos of cocaine. Tonight, the 3 men police connected to the drugs are on remand at the Belize Central Prison.
They are 21-year-old Leon Williams, a resident of the island Town's Boca Del Rio area, 18-year-old Ethan Bardalez, a resident of the San Pablo area, and 22-year-old Jaime Hernandez, a chef from the Boca Del Rio area. They were all arraigned today before Chief Magistrate Sharon Frazer for the charge of trafficking 3.455 kilos of cocaine.
They all pleaded not guilty in the arraignment today, but due to the quantity of the drugs, the Chief Magistrate could not grant them bail.
As we reported, on at around 8:30 last Thursday night, police found 3.455 kilos of coke and $9,600 cash in a Boca Del Rio house.
And while all that sounds like good police work, the defendants and their attorney are alleging that the cops brutalized them in the process of conducting this search, and while they were in police detention. After the arraignment this afternoon, their attorney granted us an interview on the topic:
Richard "Dickie" Bradley, Attorney for the Defendants
"The mother for one of the accused persons had called distraught said that someone who was inside the police station has said that her son was badly beaten. One other person inform in court, in front of your presence, you heard the whole thing, that in his case the GSU and the other set of police officers who went to the building beat them up badly, covered their heads, shocked one of them with an electrical wire taken from some fan, popped it off and then plug it in - he has all the details. One person had to be taken to hospital in San Pedro or somewhere else before coming to the court. The details of the beating is disgraceful. I can say to you as I have said to the family nothing will come of it. This is the not the first or second or third or tenth or fiftieth time that lawyers and other persons are hearing this story. This is just absolutely disgraceful, that to carry out a search for4 drugs and to arrest any person found in any building where drugs are found is a straight matter. There is a large contingent of police. There is need for them to disgrace the name of the country."
All 3 men were remanded to prison until October 26, 2020, their next court date. But, their attorney believes that they may get bail from the Supreme Court very soon.
