‘The crack was mine but not the pipe’: Man remanded to prison after unable to make $500 bail

By Breaking Belize News Staff: A 28-year-old Belize City construction worker has been remanded to the Belize Central Prison after he was unable to post bail on drug-related charges.

Francisco Contreras appeared before the Belize City Magistrate’s Court on Thursday to answer to one count of possession of a controlled drug and one count of possession of utensils used for smoking a controlled drug.

Police allege that on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, Contreras was found with 0.6 grams of crack cocaine and a small cylindrical plastic pipe fitted with foil and a band, which police described as a crack pipe.

Contreras initially pleaded guilty to possession of the crack cocaine but not guilty to possession of the pipe.

He told the court that while he uses drugs, the pipe did not belong to him and claimed it belonged to another man who had earlier been in the area with a wheelchair.

Because Contreras disputed portions of the prosecution’s facts, the Magistrate did not accept his guilty plea to the drug possession charge and the matter will proceed before the court.

Police say officers on mobile patrol around 1:15 a.m. saw Contreras sitting on a cement block on Pitter Street. A search of his person reportedly yielded nothing illegal, but officers later searched the immediate area and found the pipe containing what was suspected to be crack cocaine.

Contreras was offered bail in the sum of $500 with one surety of the same amount but was unable to meet bail and was remanded to prison.

His next court appearance is scheduled for September 28, 2026.

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