And so, while the San Pedro police had to respond to a murder in the island town, just after midnight last night, the Gang Suppression Unit had to call in the BDF's explosive experts to retrieve a live grenade in Belize City.
They found it on Plues and Dean street, which is within the territory of the George Street Gang. Today, BDF General David Jones, who is Belize's foremost explosives expert told us that he is worried about the timing, since September Celebrations are picking up, and such an explosive poses a serious threat to public safety:
Brig. Gen David Jones - Commander, BDF
"We got called, I think about 1:30 this morning. I didn't receive the call, but our operations office received it. Subsequently, one of our officers went down and retrieved the grenade. It was found, apparently, corner George and Plues Street, and it was brought here to Price Barracks for safe keeping, and so, we are now taking it to our ammunitions storehouse, where it will be kept until after the police decides that we can destroy it. So, we'll just wait for their directions, and then we'll destroy it."
Daniel Ortiz
"What have you or your team been able to find out about this particular grenade, since taking possession of it, sir?"
Brig. Gen David Jones
"That grenade is a similar grenade to what I think was used about 20 years ago in Saint Matthews Village. It's of Austrian origin. It's an RJ Hand Grenade 73. It has about 355 grams in weight, about 50 grams of explosive inside. It is a high explosive defensive grenade. As to why it was there, or how it went there, your guess is as good as mine. But, it is a dangerous piece of device that could injure people between 10 to 15 meters. [It] could cause serious injuries."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, have your inspections on it determined whether or not this particular grenade was still able to be used? Or was it a Dud?"
Brig. Gen David Jones
"Well, that grenade is fully functional. It has some tape on it. The safety pin is still on it. So, as long as someone can take out the safety pin and throw it, it would have functioned, because it's a live grenade, and it's in good condition."
Daniel Ortiz
"It must be a concern for you that these particular types of explosives are in the near vicinity of civilians who could get injured."
Brig. Gen David Jones
"Yes, and in particular around September time, it seems to be creeping up whenever we have our celebration month. Explosives and grenades seem to turn up for some reason. I don't know why. So, it is pretty concerning, and there is going to be a need for heightened security around the September Celebrations. In particular around Carnival, 10th Parade, 21st Parade, those are occurrences and activities where we have vast number of people, and it could be catastrophic, if we have one of these things thrown in a crowd like that."
A grenade was found in the city in September of 2014.
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