Home Affairs CEO Praises Police After Major Drug Seizures

Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Elton Bennett, is commending the leadership of Police Commissioner Dr. Richard Rosado following a series of major anti-narcotics operations carried out across the country in recent weeks.  The commendation comes on the heels of significant interdiction efforts by the Belize Police Department, which, as previously reported, resulted in the seizure of more than one thousand two hundred pounds of cocaine and nearly one thousand five hundred pounds of high-grade marijuana within a two-week period. According to CEO Bennett, those efforts remain ongoing, with authorities confiscating an additional four kilograms of cocaine in western Belize just yesterday.

Elton Bennett, CEO, Ministry of Home Affairs: “So from earlier on this year we were seeing signs of an increase of drugs within the country. Then obviously with good analysis and more focused intelligence we were able to seize large quantities of cocaine and marijuana. These were well coordinated. Intelligence was on point. We’ve been able to achieve some major operational success. But what needs to be considered here, Rene, is that we need to take a step back and do some strategic analysis to determine two things, mainly. One, where is all this drugs coming from, at least with the marijuana. We know the cocaine is coming from South America. But the marijuana, where is it coming from? And then two, where is it going? Are we consuming more marijuana in the country? Or are we becoming a transshipment country for drugs to be, for marijuana, to be transited on to another country? With the drug plane landing we were able to find the two pilots on a ground that was remarkable on the police department’s and the security force’s part. So we’re able to have those very important operational success. The fact that we found the two pilots who brought these cocaine into the country. That’s big. The fact that we’re able to seize the cocaine and the aircraft, that’s big. For our investigation purposes into the future will only mean that we will be able to better understand the linkages between the different players and would put us in a much better position in the future for future success. And we confiscated an additional four kilograms of cocaine in the Cayo district area. There was also a small find of cocaine in Orange Walk. We’ve had significant interdiction of marijuana both at sea in San Pedro in Turneffe and so there’s a lot that the police department and the different security forces are engaged with. These are all intelligence-led operations.”

Bennett also pointed to his direct involvement, alongside Minister of Home Affairs Oscar Mira, in the April 10 operation in the Corozal District, where law enforcement successfully intercepted a drug plane and secured a major cocaine haul. The CEO praised the level of coordination and professionalism demonstrated by officers, noting that the success reflects strong command leadership and effective collaboration among specialized units.

Elton Bennett, CEO, Ministry of Home Affairs: “I must commend the Commissioner of Police. He was engaged. He was able to give direction to his officers from the different formations. He was very instrumental with deploying long before he needed to deploy. And so the Commissioner of Police really did a good job from my observation in terms of coordinating his police officers and to get them at that location at the right time to have been there when that aircraft landed. And so the success of this was really to operational drive and I had the opportunity to see that from the Commissioner of police and his senior officers so kudos to them. I know that members of the Belize Defence Force and the Coast Guard was doing its part blocking the maritime routes and so coordination amongst the different services definitely had a lot to do with this success. We were very happy that we had the opportunity to see the execution of this very successful operations. We were honestly on a tour of the north, commissioner, minister and myself we were up in Corozal when the operation started to unfold and so the Commissioner of Police and his high-level team had indicated, okay the operation is ongoing and we have had the opportunity to seize this aircraft in Neuwland and considering that we went far off, we said okay perhaps a good opportunity for us to get on the ground and to see how the next phase of the operation would take place. That next phase of the operation is very crucial because it requires a lot of coordination between the different ministries and different entities. So you have service personnel from the Ministry of Defense, personnel from Home Affairs, you also have personnel from the US Embassy through the form of the DEA that are involved and interested in this case. So we wanted to see firsthand how this would unfold. And we’re happy that we were able to see that. Understand that minister and myself we’re both soldiers, we come from an operational background so it’s not something foreign for us to be on the scene of such an operation as a drug bust. So for us to get out there and to see what was going on is second nature to us.”

And while those operations have dealt a significant blow to illicit trafficking networks, questions remain regarding further enforcement actions. CEO Bennett says investigations into the drug plane incident are ongoing, with several persons of interest already identified.

Elton Bennett, CEO, Ministry of Home Affairs: “There are additional personnel that the police department are pursuing. The investigation obviously is continuing and will probably continue for quite some time until we can confirm at least a detention that perhaps would lead to an arrest and conviction. But that’s really investigation that would have to go beyond just the crime scene itself where the aircraft landed. Investigation would have to look at all the logistics and all the movement of personnel that were there. I don’t want to hang our success on any future arrest or detention. I mean that would be good but I believe that what we accomplished on that day when we seized the cocaine and the two pilots and the aircraft that was the bigger picture, that is exactly what we wanted to do. Obviously there are additional personnel that are involved, there are Belizeans who are involved and we do hope that our intelligence can lead us in that direction and we can make something out of it but the success itself has already taken place when we seized the cocaine and the two pilots that brought it in.”

Up to news time, no additional arrests have been reported in connection with these major drug seizures./