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It's a tangled mess rife with speculation - and today Jules Vasquez went head to head with the Compol to get to the bottom of it:

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"It doesn't matter where you work or who you work with and so those who fall trap to the weaknesses of society and allow themselves to be recruited by drug traffickers, I say shame on them. But I can assure me, so long as I am the commissioner, I am not going to tolerate any such conduct in any way, shape or form. Once they manifest themselves, I am going to cut their neck without any hesitation."

Jules Vasquez
"But you are avoiding the question, the question is this is the operation team that responds to drugs planes. One element was caught out there, other elements are being sought. Obviously there is something rotten here and I am saying that does it not speak to some failure on the part of their commander. Yes, these are adults and they make their own choices, but if you do not know what your operators are doing, that is one issue and if you do know that is another issue."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I don't want to sound like we are in a back and forth, but are you insinuating to me that if Courtney or Angel were to go and commit a crime unknowing to you, that you are complicit with them? If that is the test, we will use then we are surely up, I don't want to say what kind of creek and charge them for murder."

Jules Vasquez
"Those who work on operations have special duties and responsibilities and their actions have to be accounted for at late hours of the night."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"You have special duties and responsibilities too as a media, so not because you have that level of responsibility it means that when your staff members falters, you are guilty. We have to be real my brother and at the end of the day those persons you speak about, they are not primarily the persons who would normally respond to plane landings and think that the yard stick that should be used here is how we respond to this incident; how do we deal with these officers, do we shield them? do we condone them or do we ensure that they face the consequence of their action."

Jules Vasquez
"These are people assigned to the operation that responds to narco traffic reports and` these persons from that team are educated multiple people. Do you realize how that looks to your international partners? It looks like your operations team is corrupt and how it looks to the public is that the police have been facilitating the landing of drugs planes."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"You be the judge. Does our action today in doing all we could have, including putting the lives of 4 of our own on the line, does that signal facilitation to you? This is not unique to Belize. We have had members of DEA who have been accused of drug trafficking and dealing with drugs. The highest level of drug enforcement you could say in the world. Our international partners and I can tell you that the DEA agents who are in Belize have been with us every step of the way, so they know for a fact that as a department, as a country, we are not doing anything to facilitate, to cover up or to condone the actions of those police officers. I think that the public, if we want to be reasonable and objective, are going to say yes police officers were involved, but the department is doing what they can to make sure that these rogue officers are dealt with."

Jules Vasquez
"Sir, but never before has the apex team, this is the apex team that responds to narco reports, they are implicated."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I am saying DEA agents have been implicated for drug trafficking and arrested for drug trafficking. Any way in the world you go, members of the drug unit have been implicated. As a matter of fact even in Belize we had change members of our drug unit because of the fact that we got information they were involved. In Mexico, anywhere you go. Don't make this seem like this is unique to Belize. Cal down. Come down to earth."

Jules Vasquez
"I appreciate that you are acting conscientiously and with purpose. I don't doubt that."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"You hardly do appreciate things that isn't positive, Jules."

Jules Vasquez
"But in the past, sir, the ineluctable conclusion will be drawn that in the past no wonder all those planes land, no wonder they always reach late, because the operations unit was compromise. That will be the thinking in the public's mind, sir."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Like I said before, no matter what we do, we still in a position where it's damned if we do and damned if we don't and the public or persons who don't want to be so objective are going to say what they want. I don't know about the past, but I can tell you that since I took over this department, we have done our best to capture these planes and the perpetrators with the limited resources that we have and our actions last night is a clear demonstration of that. Our zeal and our determination to make sure we find these traffickers should be commended. You can check the record and see under which commissioner we have had the most drug bust and when you get the answer to that you come back and speak to me."

Jules Vasquez
"Sir, you are cleaning house by accident, I'm saying if it were not for the exceptional conduct of the officers, not like you said we have a problem in that operations office, we are going to weed them out. You found this out, you were as shocked as I was to find it out."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I was in direct communications with my officers the entire night directing operations and directing what should be done, so it's not by accident."

Jules Vasquez
"I'm saying you had no idea that persons in the operations office were acting in a very dubious manner."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Is that strange?"

Jules Vasquez
"This is the most important unit you have."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Like every organization, there are going to be people within who are doing things that you won't know until it manifest itself, so please don't bring that crap to me."

Reporter
"Does this now make you suspicious for the other officers in this operations unit, like you know some of them are complicit, how will you clean house? are you suspecting the other officers, they might be involved as well."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Certainly, and I think you should be the director of Channel 7, put Jules for retirement. Now that this have happened, we certainly need to take a look at the others in the office, because they are close friends and if it is that 3 are involved, we don't know the extent to which other may be."

Jules Vasquez
'Sir, will Mr. Vidal be placed on administrative leave or ask to take some time off in view of the fact that his officers directly under him, work in his office are now in the circle of direct suspicion and allegation?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"At this time, I do not see the need for that. There is nothing to suggest that Mr. Vidal is involved. As a matter of fact he was the one who raised it first to me that having seen the vehicle that was found on the scene that those persons from his office may be involved, which would suggest that he have nothing to do with what they were doing out there and he made it clear, they are not out there on his instruction or directive."