7 News Belize

Weed Eena Church Roof!
posted (July 26, 2013)
The GSU descended on a yard at #91 Victoria Street in Belize City this morning for an intensive three-hour search. They made a major find, but the news tonight is where it was made – it wasn't in the yard, but in an adjoining property, stuffed into the roof of a small church. We went to the area to find out more:…

Jules Vasquez reporting
It's a neighborhood church but, turns out, it's also a stash spot where police found a marijuana, bullets and a firearm tucked into the eaves of the building:

Voice of: Suzette Mossiah - Pastor, Merrirh's Ministry
"Well the only way is that they could have tore the eave and stuffed it there because it was open."

Jules Vasquez
"Now you run a church from this building."

Voice of: Suzette Mossiah
"Yes, for crying out loud look where they will put their drugs, in a ministry? That's crazy."

The pastor wasn't arrested but persons from the adjoining property were detained. That's where the eaves overhang and police believe parties inside the yard are responsible for the stash in their neighbor's ministry building.

But the folks in this yard reject that completely -

Voice Of:Resident of Yard where arrests made
"They come here over a hundred times and they never find anything and they bring a pile of drugs and plant it on us that we don't know about. Then they take the entire yard and take everybody's phone so we don't video them. They take away all our phones so we can't call you all and can't call anyone. We are really tired of them because they come here so many times and I really tired of them because my family and everyone here work for what they want - we don't run any drugs. In the church they find and then they put it in this yard that we have guns and ammunititon because the people around our block are saying we have guns and ammunititon so I hope they are happy."

Shelmadine McCauley - Neighbor who called radio
"Yes, I did call the radio station in the morning Jules because it frightened me out of my sleep and when I peeped out, I saw exactly who fired the shot and who had the gun. The parents over there as the eldest ones know what their children are doing and they don't give justice and they will say that it's the entire neighborhood. Jules I will tell you something - if my children and I turn a terror to my neihgbor do you think that they will like me? They won't and that is exactly what is happening to those people - they know what their children are doing. Instead of them advising them and telling them not to do that, they encourage them like they aren't doing anything - they are never doing. We already lost an innocent child because of this same mess, we have a lot of children - do we want to loose more children? That's what they want - us to loose our children and then nothing to come out of it. We have to stop that because we grow up with each other here - but we don't have love for one another, only hatred? We need to stop that!"

And while the neighborhood dispute simmers - this pastor caught in the middle is raising her fence:

Voice of: Suzette Mossiah
"That is why you have to be very careful - right now what I am doing is raiding up my fence, putting chain link and wire fence so that nobody can come on my property. As a property owner you have to protect yourself and plus I am a Justice of the Peace too."

This afternoon, officer Commanding GSU Marco Vidal told us that they would have to wait and see if they can bring charges based on where the drugs, weapon and ammunition were found. Well, it seems like that determination was made by this afternoon:

47 year old Frank Albert Jones, 42 year old Lidia Miriam Estrada, 21 year old Michael Thomas Jones, 19 year old Dion Derrick Jones, 26 year old Richard Nathaniel Jones, and 18 year old Rick Scott Jones were all charged for 1 count of Kept firearm without having been granted a firearm license and 2counts of kept unlicensed ammunition. They were also charged for possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply.

And here's exactly what was found in the roof: inside 1 bag was a black 380 pistol with a magazine containing four – 9mm rounds of ammunition. The other bag contained another 4 rounds of 9 mm ammunition bundled inside a do-rag along with 5 parcels of cannabis weighing a total of 619 grams, or about one and a half pounds. The GSU found that the lead in all the ammunition was filed – which would allow the 9mm bullets to be fired from the 380 pistol.

The GSU says that both Richard and Ricky Jones are reputed gang members of the Victoria Street bloods.

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