On Sunday - seven Mexicans - reported to be cartel hitmen - or sicarios - were detained in the Corozal District.
Tonight they are still detained but police have no proof that they are hitmen or cartel affiliates.
The Commissioner gave 7News the latest today in Belmopan - they remain detained but only because they appeared to have entered the country illegally:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"They are still in our custody but for immigration reasons. We have still not received confirmation from the Mexican government as to the genuineness of their passports. We have received some information from Interpol that their names do not appear in the criminal database in Mexico but we have also requested a research to be done in respect to their fingerprints and we are still awaiting that so there are still certain things we're waiting for. But again, yesterday, the police went and conducted searches in Ladyville, near the residence of one of these individuals, the one who is employed with the roadway construction company and at a construction site nearby, five other Mexicans were found working there. They do not have any work permit and their travel documents were not with them. According to what was told to the police, is that someone had picked up their travel documents for them to get it stamped for them to remain in the country so we're still looking to see exactly who these persons are, we're not ruling out nothing as yet, but right now immigration is looking at the immigration aspect of the whole process."
Courtney Menzies:
"Will you be getting in touch with Cecil Martinez? He's the person who escaped the cartel and he says that one of the sicarios is the same person who held him captive."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Yes, I saw that in the news last night, I saw his interview, and he said that he is a trillion percent sure, that was the exact phrase he used, that the guy Martinez, I think Javier Martinez was one of those persons who had held him captive. And so we're looking at that and see where we can go with that investigation. But remember that alleged crime was committed in Mexico, not in Belize."
We'll keep following the story closely.
As for the claim that the Mexicans made that they had come to work with a road company, on a UNDP and Belize Traffic Department "road consultancy" project, the UNDP says in a statement today that it has no ongoing road consultancy project in its Belize portfolio.
