Three men who were busted with a .22 pistol adapted with an improvised silencer made from a vehicle oil filter, have been remanded to the Belize Central Prison until July 30, on charges of “kept unlicensed firearm and ammunition” and “kept prohibited material.”

The three men are Nayef Khodr Agha, 31, a Lebanese national of Gentle Avenue, Belize City; Julio Rene Amador, 54, of Orange Walk Town; and Joel Armando Moh, 31, of corner Gentle and Meighan Avenues in Belize City.

Police said that at about 10:30 a.m. Friday they were conducting an anti-drug operation and went to the home of Julio Rene Amador, in Trinidad in the Orange Walk District, where they conducted a search for illegal drugs, guns and ammunition, and their search led to the discovery of a .22 pistol, four .22 rounds, two boxes of ammunition containing a total of 59 rounds of .22 ammunition, and a vehicle oil filter adapted to the pistol as a sound suppressor.

The three men were present at the house when the search was conducted and the items found.

Amador, Agha and Moh were taken to the Orange Walk Magistrate’s Court on Monday before Magistrate Merlene Moody, who arraigned them on the charges and remanded them to prison.