Belizean Gary Seawell has been on the run from the law since 2007, but this week his luck ran out when police were tipped off that he was hiding in a farm house in Esperanza, Cayo. Police, accompanied by a detachment of Belize Defence Force (BDF) soldiers, moved in on the farmhouse, nestled deep inside the greenery and captured the third of the Seawell brothers, who is also the subject of a US extradition request.
Seawell, 33, is wanted by US authorities for alleged cocaine smuggling and money laundering.
Police found a significant collection of arms and ammunition when they captured Seawell. Included in the weapons cache were a British-made L109 hand grenade and an assault rifle, M4 Carbine, a weapon similar to the one that had gone missing from the BDF earlier this year.
He was captured along with his common-law wife Tanisha Ayuso, 27, a Belize City resident, in a joint police and BDF operation Tuesday afternoon. Police also arrested Anthony Garnett, who is said to be the owner of the property on which Seawell was living. The three of them appeared in the San Ignacio Magistrate’s Court late yesterday, and were arraigned on several charges, including drug trafficking.
Seawell, Ayuso and Garnett were jointly arraigned on 11 offences when they appeared before San Ignacio Magistrate Rachael Montejo. The charges are two counts of keeping prohibited material, one for the hand grenade and one for a bullet-proof vest; four counts of keeping prohibited firearms; three counts of keeping prohibited ammunition, and two counts of keeping ammunition without a gun license.
In addition, Seawell and Ayuso were each charged with one count of drug trafficking for 316 grams of marijuana.
Seawell, Ayuso and Garnett have been remanded to the Hattieville Prison until their next court appearance on March 11, 2010. They appeared in court unrepresented by an attorney.
In addition to being wanted by the US, Seawell was also wanted by Cayo police for his failure to show up at court for a drug trafficking case, after he was busted with an estimated three kilos of crack cocaine and was offered bail. He never returned to court.
Another of the Seawell brothers, Mark Seawell, has been waging a legal battle in the Belize courts through his attorneys, fighting to avoid being extradited to the US. He has been in the Hattieville Prison since his arrest on the strength of an extradition request in 2006.
Duane Seawell was picked up in Jamaica in 2007 by US law enforcement officials while he was visiting the island. He pleaded guilty to cocaine importation in a US Federal Court in the state of Ohio and has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.