And while Hutchinson is giving police the run-around, the bottom line in the investigation is that no matter who is charged for what, the 40 foot container, which is what all this is really about, is gone. It’s a black eye for the Port of Belize and Customs – and a subject of ongoing concern for the police – who already have their hands full in the urban terror era. But police can say that while the container is missing, they have no evidence to suggest that the Mexican Juarez drug cartel is involved. And while security measures are being stepped up to prevent another theft, they believe there is a need for a better working relationship between Customs and the police.
Crispin Jeffries,
“There is nothing to indicate that the Mexican cartel is involved in any thing. What we do know is that the containers that were destined for the northern border were destined for a business that has a Mexican director of one of the companies and that is of concerned to us.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Why?
Crispin Jeffries,
“The containers destined for Free Zone can be further shipped into Mexico because of the arrangement with the Free Zone and Mexico, goods are shipped through Belize Port to the Free Zone and into Mexico regularly. There is some information we are working on but we are yet to confirm if the container has been located. We’ve dispatched a team out in the Cayo area and they are now enroute so information should be coming in later on.
A lot of the details of what happens comes out of Customs and Port Authority. There are standard operating procedures for shipping cargo. The Customs and the Port Authority have worked out the details of those arrangements. The reason why they came across this container that went missing is because those procedures were flawed and the information filtered that something went wrong. What other containers they have in the compound being monitored, for security reasons they have indicated to us certain times certain things and other times we have not known, we’ve been told. We believe that they think they are operating based on their internal security arrangements. They may have reasons why they don’t share information. The police operates in a similar manner but that is within their jurisdiction and we don’t have any authority to override or to step on their compound or override their authority in anyway.
The investigation is fluid and at this time we’ve arrested and charged two officers for one offense and the investigation will be ongoing. We do know that the Customs and the Port Authority have been working very close and we are aware that since April of this year the Ministry of Health along with the police and DEA sat down to look at the impact of the transhipment of pseudo-ephedrine for the manufacture of methamphetamines in the region and they found out that a lot of ephedrine was being imported into Mexico. As a result of that steps were being taken to look at what was happening and this has resulted in the things you’re seeing now and we are trying to close whatever gaps or whatever loopholes we have in the country to prevent this sort of thing from passing through Belize.
The police have on several occasions seen containers and their numbers and the locations where they were seen in the event that some follow up investigation has to go on so that we can know if that container is one of those that is being questioned.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
How widespread do you believe this is within the Port compound or how high up does it go?
Crispin Jeffries,
“That is speculation and I can’t answer that question.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
It is a small compound.
Crispin Jeffries,
“You’re talking two things here, you’re talking about the compound and people. When you say “high up” what do you mean by high up?”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Because I am saying it is not the first time there is such an incident. I am just wondering why it is that we keep on having these cases come up and it is not like you have a huge compound to secure, to put something in place where things cannot be properly monitored.
Crispin Jeffries,
“Well it is clear to indicate that it is no longer easy for containers to just up and leave the compound without some security checks. If containers are stolen the police has standby units ready to respond 24 hours a day. The problem is that the police can be standing right at the gate and is not aware that a specific container is not duly authorized to leave the compound and is leaving the compound. Once the paper process has been forged and it passes the checks done by the Customs or the other officers, if there is such a list that we should be given numbers then obviously we would have that list and we would check those numbers. So you can’t have me look for something if I don’t know what I am looking for. That is in essence what we should be saying here.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
But then that is insinuating that there is not full cooperation on both sides.
Crispin Jeffries,
“We admit that the level of cooperation is not to the level we wanted it and that has been reported upwards and action is being taken to correct that.”
