And the reason Vidal is within the circle of suspicion is not only because 4 of the 7 members of his COST team have been criminally charged, but because Corporal Elmer Nah - who has been with Vidal in various units for over 10 years - is also his nephew.
Nah was arrested when he was caught on Saturday November 6th on the Southern Highway with over a hundred rounds of police issued ammunition. But, he was on leave at the time - so what was he doing with all the live ammunition? And should his common law wife - who was with him - have also been charged? And should Uncle Marco Vidal have gone to the Independence police station to assist these suspects, who are also his relatives? The Press asked the Minister for his take on all the questions today:
Reporter
"Sir, have you determined if there was anything untoward in Elmer Nah having that amount of ammunition? And is an investigation being done in terms of how much equipment, ammunition and firearms that unit, the COST unit was assigned?"
Hon. Kareem Musa, Min. Home Affairs
"That has to be looked into Marisol and it is. What I can say on that again - It's also before the courts - but what they can see from what I have been informed, the ammunition that he had was assigned and it is from the police department. It is excessive in my personal opinion. And so we will have to look at that angle because he was on leave. And so you ought not to have had that ammunition in his possession."
Reporter
"Do you believe that his wife, who was in the vehicle, should have been arrested and charged?"
Hon. Kareem Musa, Min. Home Affairs
"It's a peculiar matter, Courtney, because if it is that that ammunition could not have been traced to the police department, then yes, she should have been charged because anybody found with illegal ammunition should be charged inside a vehicle. That is the law. This particular case, in this particular instance, this ammunition is for the police department. Elmer Nah, otherwise, if he were on duty, would have been allowed to be in possession of this ammunition, but he was off duty. And so he ought to have turned that back in. And so you cannot necessarily tie or to trace her to this ammunition because it's not random ammunition, it is ammunition assigned to the police department given. Aylmer, not as far as I'm aware again, but he ought not to have been in possession of it because he was off duty."
Reporter
"Sir, are you concerned that the police officers who are implicated in this drug plane, they were supposed to go to court to testify in other cases, know their integrity will be called into question, presumably by a defense attorneys. Does this concern you?"
Hon. Kareem Musa, Min. Home Affairs
"Of course it does, Courtney, that that is a huge concern. This particular COST unit has been responsible for a number of drug busts throughout Belize. And so that is definitely a very concerning issue. We have to look at it from the angle of the officers who were not implicated in this particular plane landing to see whether those officers can offer testimony in the case because they are part of the same unit but not implicated in this plane landing."
Reporter
"Sir, does it also concern you that they are not seeing the best of it all went personally to the police station to, you know, get to pick up Elmer Nah's wife."
Hon. Kareem Musa, Min. Home Affairs
"That looks terrible. That looks terrible. Yes, it's your family member and all of that, but that looks terrible. I have to say that."
"Anybody, anybody, whether it's Vidal or anybody else found to be exerting their influence because they're an ACP, DCP or a sergeant if they're phoned exerting their influence to try to assist those individuals who were found at the scene, those officers, those high ranking officers, need to be personally dealt with."
