He's been working in the vehicle theft unit since the year 2000 and he's been in the department for nine years, but Corporal David Cal's career as a policemen has taken a sharp turn for the worse.
Effective Saturday, Cal was transferred to the Patrol Branch, on the orders of the senior command. This after a complaint was made to the Internal Affairs Department by Alfonso Sun, a Taiwanese who owns the Gulf Hotel. Sun's Nissan Patrol was confiscated in a Special Branch Operation on October 27th.
The seizure was made after Interpol sent an alert to Belize's Joint Intelligence Coordinating Center (JICC). When police pulled up on him, sun allegedly told the officers that he had bought the vehicle through a well known city businessman with a connect to the underworld. But when Cal recorded Sun's statement, he reportedly changed the story and said that it was another man who had sold him the vehicle. That caused some confusion and in the end, we are told, that no name was included in the statement.
But Sun told police that Corporal Cal had convinced him to include that first name in the statement, and when Sun agreed to alter his sworn statement, he alleges that Cal told him he'd have to pay to get it done. That's the allegation that Sun has made to the Internal Affairs Department, and the senior command has taken it seriously enough to remove Cal from the Stolen Car Unit.
But while Cal can be kicked downstairs, even on the complaint of a man who probably knowingly bought a hot ride, getting the luxury SUV back is not going to be so easy. The vehicle remains impounded at the Customs Department. Guatemalan officials have confirmed that it was stolen from their country. Of course, Belize has no stolen car treaty with the Guatemalans or any other Latin American country, so foreseeably the owner would simply have to pay a Customs fine to get it back. This is because the vehicle was not legally licensed nor did it pay proper duties.
