| Alleged Crystal Meth Smugglers Jailed |
| Fri, August 22, 2014 |
|
Tonight, the men who police caught with 120 pounds of Crystal Meth are in jail, after being arraigned in the Orange Walk Magistrate's Court. They are 49 year-old Belizean Ruperto Reyes from Orange Walk and 52 year-old Cuban Pascual Pineda from san Pedro. Police say that these men had at least 4 million Belize dollars' worth of the highly addictive drug in the back seat of the car they were in.
They have since been charged with 1 count each of trafficking a class B drug, and they were arraigned after 4:00 this evening. Because of the seriousness of the drug they've been accused of trafficking, the case will be treated as indictable, and so no plea was taken. They've been remanded to the Belize Central Prison until September 30.
As we told you, on Wednesday night at 7:20, the Anti Drug Unit lucked out when they were on patrol and saw a black Toyota Camry swerving form one side of the road to the other. The officers set chase after it, and on when the vehicle got near to Liberty Avenue, the driver lost control, and the vehicle spun out. Both men tried to flee, but the officers caught up with them. When the vehicle was searched, the officers found a red ice cooler which had 18 parcels of Crystal Meth to a total weight of 54.7 kilos - or 120.5 pounds. It is the largest Crystal Meth bust on record.
The highly addictive drug is widely used in the US, which is where this cargo may have ultimately been destined for. Though Belizean law enforcement puts the street value of the drugs at 2 million dollars, documents we've seen from US authorities place a street value of 12 million US dollars on 120 pounds.
|
