Photo: Senior Superintendent David Chi (L) and
PC Norman Anthony

The lawsuits filed by former Police Superintendent David Chi and Police Corporal Norman Anthony for false imprisonment after the two were arrested for alleged involvement in a 2018 Blue Creek narco plane landing were both dismissed. 

by Marco Lopez

BELIZE CITY, Fri. Jan. 6, 2023

In Late December, Justice Geneviéve Chabot delivered a judgment in the false imprisonment lawsuit brought against members of the Police Department and the Attorney General in 2021 by former Police Superintendent David Chi and Police Corporal Norman Anthony. The two former police officers were accused of being involved in the September 2018 drug plane landing in the Tres Leguas area of Blue Creek, Orange Walk. They were arrested and spent some days at the Belize Central Prison. The arrested officers were released on bail and subsequently tried and acquitted for their alleged involvement in the drug plane landing. The two officers later filed separate claims of false imprisonment against the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, the Attorney General, and the arresting officer, Insp. Santiago Gongora. Those claims have both been dismissed.

A total of 26 bales of cocaine marked with a scorpion insignia—totaling, according to the High Court judgment, 552.9955 kg in weight—were found during the landing. Two Mexican nationals, Azarias Manzano and Eli Figueroa, along with the two cops, were detained – accused of abetting to land the drug plane and importing the drugs. Also initially arrested with them was a civilian of Mennonite descent, Peter Friesen, but the charges against him were later dropped and he became a Crown witness in the case – a crown witness who never showed up when the trial was called. The case was subsequently thrown out after a no-case submission by the attorneys for the accused was upheld by the Orange Walk Magistrate Court.  

Inspector Santiago Gongora, one of the defendants in the lawsuit brought by the two officers, had detained PC Norman Anthony at a police checkpoint near the location that the plane was approaching. Anthony was dressed in civilian clothing and said at the time that he was going to check on information from an “informant.” Doubtful that a single officer in civilian clothing would be dispatched to the area, and aware that the information of the impending landing was kept confidential, Insp. Gongora became suspicious and detained Anthony.

“I am unable to find any reliability in Mr. Anthony’s account of his conversation with Insp. Gongora when he reached the checkpoint. Mr. Anthony provided three different accounts of this conversation, each significantly different than the others: one in his reply to the defence, one in his witness statement, and one in the police statement given on September 10th, 2018,” the written judgment states.

David Chi, who was the officer in charge of the Orange Walk Police Station at the time, claimed that he arrived on the scene of the illegal landing in the evening, after being called by the Commissioner of Police twice, for the organization of a Quick Response Team, and again to dispatch that team to the area. It is noted that he did not call the Commissioner of Police to testify in connection with this claim, and there is no evidence to corroborate his assertions that such a call was made.

When Chi arrived on the scene, however, the arresting officer who had detained Anthony was suspicious of Chi’s demeanor at the landing, contending that he paid more attention to the detained Antony than the operation of the illegal narco plane in front of them.

The judgment states that Insp. Gongora was discouraged by Chi’s response and felt that “Mr. Chi did not recognize his effort to intercept the illegal aircraft that night, but rather appeared to be only concerned about Mr. Anthony’s well-being.”

Chi claimed to have given Anthony the directive to go into the area and he allegedly protested the detention of the officer when he spoke with the Commissioner of Police on the scene of the landing. When the civilian Peter Friesen was found by BDF personnel, eyes turned on Chi after Friesen claimed to have requested the “police” assistance to land the plane.

“Insp. Gongora testified that Mr. Friesen informed the police that he had asked Mr. Anthony if he would be willing to get Mr. Chi to assist in the landing of the illegal aircraft, to which he agreed. Mr. Friesen explained the role of both Claimants in the operation and explained that they exchanged phone calls and text messages. Insp. Gongora testified that it is because of the information provided by Mr. Friesen that the Claimants were arrested and charged,” the judgment states. 

Anthony was suspended after his release on September 10, and Chi was placed on five days’ suspension as the investigation progressed. The two were charged with the offenses of “conspiracy to abet the crime of importation of drugs” and “abetting the crime of causing an aircraft to land in any place other than an aircraft licensed.” They were imprisoned and subsequently released on bail of $150,000 each. The trial dragged on in the Orange Walk Magistrate Court for some months before it reached a head in February 2020, and the attorneys for the accused submitted their no-case submissions when the supposed lead witness for the Crown failed to appear in two instances.

During an interview last week Thursday, the Commissioner of Police said, “The main witness in that matter did not appear in court – we know why he did not appear in court. I’m not going to say publicly, but we know why he did not appear in court, and it was on that basis that we could not have successfully prosecuted that matter.”

Since that matter was thrown out, the two accused officers, since retired from the ranks of the Police Department, took their claim to the Supreme Court in an attempt to receive aggravated, exemplary, and special damages for what they alleged was false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. The court found that the statement against Chi given by Peter Friesen to Insp. Gongora was enough to give the officer probable suspicion to carry out the arrests. The inconsistencies in Anthony’s statements before the court led the sitting judge to rule against him as well.  

“Because the Claimants failed to meet the burden of proving malicious prosecution, the Subsequent Detention was lawful. The Claimants have failed to prove on the balance of probabilities that they were falsely imprisoned and/or maliciously prosecuted,” the judgment states.

Cost, in the amount of $5,000, was awarded to the Defendant, who was represented by Agassi Finnegan and Jorge Matus. The claimants were represented by Misty Marin and Kia Diaz-Tillett.