Four men were arraigned this morning in the Orange Walk Magistrate Court for drug possession and trafficking of forty pounds of heroin, worth ten million dollars. It follows a huge bust by the Anti-Drug Unit of the police department in front of a bar at the South End entrance of Corozal Town. There was no magistrate available in the municipality so the four were taken to Orange Walk to be officially charged. This afternoon, they were read the charges for the forty pounds of heroin found in a parked vehicle in front of the bar. It is believed that the anti-drug unit was tipped off that the fifteen parcels of heroin were stashed inside the parked vehicle. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
A group of four has been arraigned on charges of drug possession and trafficking, following an operation by the Anti Drug Unit after seven ‘clock on Monday night which turned up more than forty pounds of heroin outside of a bar at the southern entrance of Corozal Town. They are thirty-two-year-old Jose Antonio Lara, a fisherman of San Pedro, thirty-five-year-old Heider Martin Perez, also of San Pedro Town. He is an administrative assistant employed at Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Along with them were thirty-year-old Lennon Leonardo Tillett of College Road, Corozal Town and forty-two-year-old Gerardo Allen from Caye Caulker. The quartet was busted with a total of fifteen parcels of the addictive narcotic stowed inside several bags on the backseat of a white Chevy Tahoe parked near an establishment outside of Corozal Town. The quantity of drugs weighed in at a little over nineteen and a half kilograms.
This morning, the men appeared before Magistrate Merlene Moody at the lower court in Orange Walk Town. In the presence of attorney Arthur Saldivar, they were each read the indictable charges before being remanded into custody at the Belize Central Prison until February twenty-third. While disclosure has not yet been granted in the matter, News Five understands that the men may have been set up for the fall. Unofficially, we also learned that the men claim that they were not traveling together at the time of the raid but were inside the establishment. On record, the seizure is arguably the largest for heroin in Belize, with a street value estimated to be ten million dollars. It is believed that the illicit cargo was northbound, Mexico or the United States presumably being its final destination.
While a firearm was also recovered during the sting, the licensed, Springfield brand nine millimeter pistol is registered to Perez. When the men return for trial in late-February they will be appearing in the Corozal Supreme Court. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
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