And in crime news, a Coast Guardsman is in police custody after he was accused of arson. It was Saturday night when a Boston Whaler that was dry docked at the Coast Guard headquarters for maintenance went up in flames. After the smoke cleared, the vessel, valued at over half a million dollars, was destroyed.
But prior to the fire, duty personnel at the base saw someone in the boat - presumably the person who may have caused the fire.
But if it is arson - why would a Coast Guard officer purposely set one of their vessels ablaze?
Courtney Menzies spoke to both the police and the vice commandant at the Coast Guard and has this story.
Just after 8:00 on Saturday night, the 38 foot Boston Whaler burst into flames on the Coast Guard base. And today, all that remained was the burnt hull and 3 outboard engines that will never touch the sea again.
And according to the vice commandant, Captain Gregory Soberanis, after the duty personnel noticed the fire, the police and fire departments were called in to contain the blaze.
And after the investigation began, the police discovered that it may be an arson:
Captain Gregory Soberanis, Vice Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
"The police, fire department, and our investigation unit are currently undergoing that portion of the investigation to determine what really and truly was the cause of the fire. We know at this point that the personnel who were on duty saw an individual on the vessel a few minutes prior to the blaze or to the fire, that particular individual is a person of interest and is currently detained by the police for questioning."
ACP Alden Dawson
"The information is that an officer from the Coast Guard may have lit this boat or may have had an accident whilst we believe he was extracting fuel from the boat. According to the Coast Guard official, the boat valued over half a million dollars and the matter is being investigated. It's an early stage in the investigation and we have one suspect in custody, a young man, Emmanuel McFadzean, so far."
But while that's what the police are saying, Captain Soberanis says he doesn't want to speculate.
Captain Gregory Soberanis, Vice Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
"The fire department along with CIB and our investigation unit are going through the debris to determine the cause of the fire."
Courtney Menzies:
"Is there any indication, as reports say, that he - the person detained - may have been stealing gas?"
Captain Gregory Soberanis
"Like I said, there's a lot of speculation and allegations going around. I don't want to get into allegations but we are looking at various angles as it relates to what may have occurred and so we leave that in the hands of the investigative team at this time so that we can make a definite determination as to what the cause of the fire was."
But regardless of how the fire was set, it's one less vessel in the Coast Guard's fleet - and a loss of over 332,000 US dollars.
Captain Gregory Soberanis, Vice Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
"This is definitely a significant loss for us as it relates to the vessel being a part of our operational fleet. However, we do have additional vessels that we will be incorporating into the deployment rotation so while the vessel is a significant loss for us, we are prepared to deal with eventualities such as these."
Captain Soberanis explained that if the investigation confirms it is arson, any individual or individuals who was near the vessel unsanctioned will be facing both internal and criminal charges.
We note that in its weekend report, police said the vessel was valued at 800,00 thousand dollars plus three engine, which are about 50 thousand each. But, Bennett says the total package is actually valued at 665 thousand Belize dollars.
