PM Calls Out Risky Sales of Bomb-Tainted Property in Baldy Beacon

A growing controversy over land sales is putting safety, ethics, and national security front and center tonight. Prime Minister John Briceño is calling attention to parcels of land once used for military training, now in private hands and being marketed to investors, despite the risk of unexploded ordnance hidden beneath the surface. He says the situation is not only dangerous, but deeply troubling, warning that unsuspecting buyers could be purchasing land that still carries life-threatening hazards.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“The previous government gave it to certain individuals and there is great suspicion that remember the whole issue with immigration scandal and that was facilitated and many, several large swaths of that land were lands that the BDF and British Army used. That land is kind of dangerous because there is still bombs there that did not explode and going to the ground and you can’t see it and bush covered it up. Those lands should not be sold. They should not be put out there to market internationally and then you have investors that do not know better thinking that they are buying a nice piece of land because the Baldy Beacon is beautiful. Then they find out that there could be a bomb on the land they bought, I think it is kind of unethical and that could have never happened. I wish we could find a way to get back that land again and put it back into conservation. But you know Mr. Penner and his investors would want millions of dollars should we do that. But we need to find what can be done about it.”

 

Reporter

“Would you be able to confirm if that area is still labeled as BDF training area even with private lands in the middle of it?”

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Well it still is, but what we have to do, the BDF, if they cant continue to operate there we have to find somewhere else. A lot of time they shoot live ammunition in that area and if you have civilians walking in that area they could get hurt or God forbid they could get killed.”

 

The area is still an active BDF training zone, with live ammunition in use, putting civilians at real risk. The Prime Minister says government must act fast, even looking at reclaiming the land before someone gets hurt.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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