by William Ysaguirre

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Nov. 21, 2024

A Police raid on the Double Zero store on Western Avenue in Belize City on the eve of Tropical Storm Sara last Friday, November 15, resulted in the discovery of an illegal firearm – a 40-caliber Glock pistol, ammunition, 16 pounds of marijuana, Chinese passports and other Immigration paraphernalia.

Double Zero proprietor Joshua Ashburn, 47, Keenen Anthony 20, and Mario Fernandez, 30, were arraigned on charges of “kept prohibited firearm”, “kept prohibited ammunitions” and “possession of a controlled drugs with intent to supply” in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, November 20. They were not offered bail because of the nature of the charges, and they were remanded to the Belize Central Prison until their next court date on January 20.

_{Photo: (l-r) Joshua Ashburn, Keenen Anthony and Mario Fernandez, remanded}

Investigators found a black Glock 40-caliber pistol and two loaded magazines. They also found three large plastic bags hidden in an oven, which contained 16 pounds of marijuana.

Ashburn appeared in court unrepresented, where he attempted to plead guilty to possession of the drugs for his personal use, with no intent to supply; but the magistrate rejected his guilty plea, since he was charged with a more serious offense of possession with intent to supply, and a not guilty plea was entered.

No one owned up to possession of the Glock and ammunition. Fernandez denied any knowledge of the drugs, saying he only went to the store for work.

The search also revealed what appeared to be a well-equipped enterprise to supply falsified immigration documents, as investigators turned up six Chinese passports and  five Belize immigration stamps for visas, permanent residence documents, and an entry stamp. Additionally, there appeared to have been visas issued to Asian nationals.

“The visas are definitely fraudulent,” Chief Executive Officer Tanya Santos of the Ministry of Immigration confirmed. She was non-committal about the authenticity of the stamps and permanent residence documents, which, if found to be genuine, could only have been stolen from the Immigration Department.