Police Commissioner addresses tainted weed sweets scandal in extended interview

Today’s extended interview with the Police Commissioner is the first we are hearing from him since the public health crisis broke out.  He was open to answering all questions from the media, including the forensic testing, and the sequence of how the drugs ended up at the sanitary landfill.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “Yes the gummies were imported into the country via customs who discovered them in a barrel and then police were called. The ANU responded and retrieved the gummies and samples were taken and sent to the National Forensic Services for analysis because we did not know then what those gummies were or what they represent. So for us to have been sure it was sent to the lab for testing and about three weeks ago from what I was briefed yesterday the boxes containing these gummies were taken to our national exhibit room in Belize City for safe keeping pending the return of the results that were requested from the lab and sometime last week, again from what I’m briefed, the exhibit keeper decided to dispose of these gummies by way of putting them in a garbage trailer that is kept inside the Queen Street Police Station compound. Thereafter the yard man at Queen Street took the trailer to the dump site at mile three on the Philip Goldson Highway and disposed of those gummies. But the yardman also dug into the boxes and he too took some of those gummies as well as other persons who were at the dump site at that particular moment. The gummies were then brought back into the city by different persons and were later sold as you all would know by now. Just this afternoon after midday I was informed by the Director of National Forensic Services that the test on the gummies have concluded and it is confirmed to contained cannabis. We have also received the drug certificate in that regard and so investigation is still ongoing.”

It is to be noted that last night in our news, we included video clips of the private entity, Belize Waste Control, when we spoke of the disposal of the weed sweets.  The inclusion of that video footage was done in error as the company has no involvement in this current ordeal.  We want to apologize for using those images.