So while a full forensic analysis of the edibles is being done, the Minister of Home Affairs did seem somewhat relieved to pin the blame squarely and solely on a civilian staff:
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"The civilian exhibit keeper is currently detained by police pending this investigation, because as you would imagine this might not just result in his termination, if it is that the investigation leads in that particular direction that he in fact discarded the edibles, but it can lead also to criminal charges. We can look at possibly negligent harm as a charge that can be imposed and so I don't want to comment too much on it, because it is at the investigations stage pending the results from the forensic analyst. So I am extremely disappointed in the actions of this particular exhibit keeper, because he has been employed with the department for the last 10 years and so it cannot be that he is not aware of the procedures that should be followed when discarding substances that are held as exhibits."
"For one, this is an active investigation that was awaiting results from the forensic department and so it doesn't matter what you were smelling inside your exhibit room, you have no authority to then take it upon yourself without consulting the prosecutor, without consulting the commissioner of police and then to discard potential evidence in a criminal case and so that definitely is very concerning and like I said that could result in subsequent charges for this officer, because the procedure normally is that you must first consult the head of department, the commander and in this case the commander of prosecutions is Ms. Alifa Elrington. Ms. Elrington then writes to the commissioner of police who can then give the authority to have the material evidence discarded if it is the case has been concluded or for whatever reason they no longer need a particular exhibit and so the commissioner would send it a team to assess whether an item that has been confiscated should be destroyed and should be properly destroyed through an incinerator, not by just discarding it at the dump site."
Jules Vasquez
"Where was the precise breakdown, in terms of yes, he made a decision apparently unilaterally, but was there proper oversight from the department commander assigned to him?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"Yes, like I mention, the commander in this particular situation would be the head of prosecution branch which would be Ms. Alifa Elrington and there is absolutely nothing to suggest that Ms. Elrington in any way authorized the discarding of this particular evidence in this case and so there is nothing to suggest that. What we are saying quite clearly from the outset is this was a unilateral decision. He acted, if you may, on a frolic of his own. So this breach the entire protocol, the entire procedure and like I said it is no way intended for us to then cast blame of the commander of prosecutions for something that this individual clearly choose to do on his own."
