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The weight was confirmed to us this afternoon by Police and Public Safety Minister Doug Singh who told us via telephone that the cocaine with an estimated street value of 46 million US dollars will be destroyed as soon as possible.

Jules Vasquez
"How can we the public be assured that it is being properly safeguarded and it won't turn into flour, or it won't disappear from wherever it is?"

Hon. Doug Singh, Minister of Police
"There are a lot of security measures in place to safeguard the product and to ensure that as soon as possible we can provide for the destruction of it and if possible we try to do that with the media present. I think certainly the public would want to be satisfied that it has been disposed of properly. It is not the first time that planes have entered our air space and it is always a challenge for the department, the police, the BDF and The Anti-Drug Unit to be able to respond in time especially when landings occur in remote locations. That was the situation here, I think we were just a bit prepared, I think we were able to have the early response."

Jules Vasquez
"There is a lot of speculation that its the DEA that gave you all the information. There is the information to this newsroom which says that it was just local intelligence. Are you able to say how the intercept was made?"

Hon. Doug Singh, Minister of Police
"It was local intelligence, there are monitoring devices available to the drug and the police department that can monitor traffic that enters the air space. It is always difficult for us to predict where they are going to land and that has always been a challenge. As a matter of fact the plane that landed in Sarteneja was also track but it was difficult to determine if it will land in San Pedro or Sarteneja or if it would land in other locations."

Jules Vasquez
"There is very little to directly link these officers with the scene of the crime just from the basic rules evidence that they were not found at the scene where the plane was, they were found some miles away."

Hon. Doug Singh, Minister of Police
"That's the challenge of the investigation; some of the evidence may be circumstantial. We continue to work at it because any possibility of linking evidence to place them at the location I think is going to be key."

Jules Vasquez
"Are you all aware that there is a heightened use of Belize for drug transshipment or forward transfer of drugs?"

Hon. Doug Singh, Minister of Police
"Certainly and as pressures are applied elsewhere Belize will become under even more pressure with respect to us as a possibility."

Singh says he was not shocked when he heard about the plane landing, but he was disappointed to hear that police officers were involved

He says that the police who sent out the alert was a Corporal from Bella Vista village and special constables. He added that there is nothing at this time to implicate higher ranking officers.

Four of the five police officers detained and one customs officer have been charged for possession of ammunition while other charges are prepared. They are: 33 year old Corporal Renel Grant - who is the GG's former driver, along with the GG's current driver, 39 year Corporal Nelson Middleton as well as 38 year old Sergeant Lawrence Humes and 42 year old Sergeant Jacinto Roches attached to the Internal Affairs Desk Belmopan and 36 year old Harold Usher a Boatman at Customs Department.

Another police officer of interest is Corporal VIDAL CAHUN who has been charged for an unrelated FIREARM AND AMMUNITION. As for the plane, investigators are not sure of the origin and there is no plan to keep it. Singh says that as with confiscated assets it will be sold.

The estimated street value of the drugs in Belize is 57 million Belize dollars.