BELIZE CITY, Wed. Nov. 10, 2021 — Edward Martinez, who has in the past engaged in what has been described as “whistle-blowing” to expose inappropriate conduct by police, this week made claims that he received threats via the Facebook Messenger profile of Corporal Elmer Nah, one of the three officers on ACP Marco Vidal’s strike team who was arrested last week in connection with a huge drug bust last Thursday night in Bladen Village, Toledo, following a narco plane landing that was facilitated by police officers. While being interviewed by reporters on Monday, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams responded to those allegations against Nah, who, interestingly, is also the nephew of ACP Marco Vidal, who until last week was the head of the Commander Operations Strike Team to which Nah was assigned.
Commissioner Williams classified the allegations as mischief and assured members of the media that Nah, who had been in police detention since his arrest, did not have access to his phone when the purported threats were made.
“I can assure you that Corporal Nah did not have his phone while he was in lock-up. I don’t know if someone may have had access to his account or it’s a fake account that someone created and is using to do it. But I have advised Edward Martinez to come in and make a report, and we will be able to investigate to see exactly where the messages are coming from,” the Police Commissioner said.
While persons in police detention are usually stripped of gadgets such as phones and tablets, there have been incidents which have confirmed that some detainees, particularly police officers, have on occasion been able to hold onto such devices while detained. One notable example is former police officer Darrell Usher, who posted photos online of a bathroom inside the Queen Street Station.
Along with charges related to the narco jet landing, Elmer Nah may now face a complaint against him for threatening words made towards Edward Martinez. An official complaint has been made.
It is interesting to note that this is not the first public claim to be made that threats were issued to persons who had made accusations against Nah, and these stemmed from a court trial during which allegations of serious wrongdoing were made against Nah, which, like the most recent drug bust, had caused a spotlight to be cast on Nah’s relationship with ASP Vidal and had prompted concerns about rogue operations within the Police Department.
The allegations were made in connection with the execution of Fareed Ahmad, whose 2017 murder was arguably as sensational a crime as the recent unloading of the narco plane in Bladen Village and had sent shockwaves through the community. Prior to the conclusion of the trial of Michelle Brown (a female police officer who was accused of shooting Ahmad while she was a passenger in his vehicle on a December evening in 2017) family members of Ahmad had made claims of being harassed by police officers and had informed local media of a number of threatening calls they had received.
And then, in December 2020, near the conclusion of the trial of Brown, there was her bombshell allegation — that it was in fact Corporal Nah who had shot Ahmad.
Brown, in a statement she delivered from the dock before Justice Williams, said that she was headed to Belmopan and hitched a ride with Ahmad in his BMW SUV, and that she was in the car with him as he traveled along the George Price Highway. Brown said that when they reached Hattieville, she attempted to exit the vehicle, but she remained in the vehicle after Ahmad offered to drive her further.
According to an AMANDALA report on her testimony in court, “Brown further testified that while the vehicle was stationary, a police officer whom she identified as Corporal Elmer Nah, entered the vehicle through one of the back doors, uttered some words, and then pointed a firearm at the back of her head and tried to fire twice, but the gun snapped.”
Brown further stated that after the vehicle was back in motion, Corporal Nah then turned the gun on Ahmad, and, according to Brown, a struggle ensued between the two men at that point and the gun discharged, after which Nah allegedly jumped out of the vehicle.
Brown additionally told the court that after the incident, she was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, and while she was there, she was visited by a man who threatened to kill her children if she spoke on the matter.
Senior Counsel Shanice Lovell, representing the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, had been dismissive of Brown’s testimony and had called Corporal Elmer Nah to testify. Nah denied Brown’s claims and said that when the murder occurred, he was at home with a relative of his — Senior Police Superintendent at the time, Marco Vidal. ASP Vidal thus figured prominently in the alibi that enabled Nah to deny the allegations against him.