Two Men Behind Bars; Belmopan Intercept Leads to Weapons Charges

Two young men are behind bars tonight after a police stop in Belmopan led to the discovery of illegal weapons and ammunition. Officers intercepted the vehicle and uncovered the stash, resulting in immediate charges. Kamron Adolphus and Vaughn Culzac now face multiple firearm and ammunition offenses. Adolphus has pleaded guilty, while Culzac is fighting the charges, but both have been remanded to the Belize Central Prison. Assistant Superintendent of Police Stacy Smith has more on the arrest.

 

ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer

“Police have formally arrested and jointly charged twenty-three-year-old Cameron Adolphus of Burrel Boom Village and Vaughn Culzac, twenty years of age, of Roaring Creek Village, for the offense of kept firearm without a gun license, one count of kept ammunition without a con- license, and one count of kept prohibited ammunition. These charges follow a police operation which was carried out on Friday, fifteenth May twenty twenty-six, around eight thirty AM in Belmopan City, where a vehicle which they were on board was intercepted and a search of that vehicle led to the discovery of a nine millimeter Beretta pistol, twenty-eight live rounds of seven point six two caliber ammunition, fifteen live rounds of point two caliber ammunition, and eight live rounds of nine millimeter ammunition. Adolphus has since pleaded guilty and Culzac not guilty. Both individuals, however, have since been remanded to the Belize Central Prison, where Adolphus awaits sentencing and Culzac further court appearance.”

 

Reporter

“Can police say how exactly did they manage to come in possession of these weapons? You guys have launched numerous operations over the years to remove weapons from off the streets. So how do they keep coming in?”

 

ASP Stacy Smith

“These particular weapons? Certainly, we know the border, the porous border, serves as one of those areas that illegal firearms are brought in. We saw the instance where one person sought to import a number of firearms, but thankfully the check that happens at customs, that was intercepted. We continue our efforts on our part to try to conduct operations along the border lines and those porous areas  with a view to deterring these types of activities. The mobile interdiction team is one unit that is particularly tasked with such a mandate.”

 

The Belize Police Department will continue to invest in intelligence and other surveillance operations to efficiently detect and intercept these unlicensed weapons.

 

Belize City Man Charged for Unlicensed Forearm

 

Meanwhile, police operations continue to yield results in the fight against illegal weapons. Following the arrest of Kamron Adolphus and Vaughn Culzac in Belmopan, authorities have also detained Belize City resident, Thomas Ferguson. ASP Stacy Smith confirmed that Ferguson was formally charged with kept firearm without a gun license and kept ammunition without a gun license after officers conducted a search at his residence on Electric Avenue.

 

ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer

“ Police attached to the Gang Intelligence Investigation and Interdiction Unit, GI3, have formally arrested and charged thirty-four-year-old Thomas Ferguson of Electric Avenue, Belize City, for the offense of kept firearm without a gun license and kept ammunition without a gun license. This arrest follows an SOE sanctioned operation in a declared area, which was carried out by that team at the residence of Ferguson, which led to the discovery of a black in color nine millimeter pistol which contained fifteen live rounds of nine millimeter ammunition.”

 

Police maintain that this latest arrest is a result of the department’s increased  crackdown on unlicensed firearms, as specialized units intensify operations to remove illegal weapons from across Belize.

 

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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