That's the second big weed bust in Belize Rural in less than a week. The other one happened on Wednesday in Ladyville.
The man at the center of it was the nephew of the former DPM, Hugo Patt. The investigation also revealed the vehicle used to transport the weed was registered to Patt.
Yesterday, we asked the Minister of Home Affairs if this could lead to charges being levied against Patt as the vehicle owner.
Hon. Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"Ordinarily the owner of a vehicle is presumed to be in possession of any drugs or firearm that may be found in a vehicle, but it can be proven otherwise if there is a driver or somebody else having conduct or carriage of the vehicle and so what it means it involves an investigation and so the person driving is then presumed to be the person in possession, so in this particular case the incident that I think you're speaking of involving the ownership by the former minister of natural resources he was not the driver of that vehicle and so the presumption falls on the actual driver of the vehicle, I think it's his nephew and 2 other gentlemen, but that does not mean that an investigation cannot still continue to determine whether or not the owner of the vehicle, rather the owners of the vehicle have any involvement on this illicit activity."
