Tonight, more is known about how very dangerous weapons enter the country. That's after customs intercepted a large carton box on Monday that had been shipped from Miami. Inside they found a stunning array of dangerous guns and ammunition. The first is a Draco 7.62 rifle, which is a mini version of an AK 47 - a very deadly, fully automatic assault rifle - and it shipped along with 400 live rounds.
Two 9 millimetre pistols - brand new in their boxes - were also inside the carton, both of them carrying two magazines.
And, for good measure, there were also 200 rounds of 5.56 ammunition - the type used in military grade AR - 15 and M-16 rifles. None of those weapons were in the box - but clearly these rounds were going to be used in assault rifles that criminal elements already have in Belize.
And, law enforcement sources tell us that's what's most interesting about these guns. They have no serial number - yet they are packaged new - but these are what are known as "ghost weapons" - designed for organized crime players - so that they have no traceability in ballistics systems.
The ammunition also has the batch number filed off - so that is also untraceable.
It's consistent with international organized crime - and now customs and police are trying to determine if such a shipment has come in before. There was nothing special about this one, it was just a regular used personal effects shipment - and the box was only opened - not because it looked suspicious - but as a routine risk management check - according to our sources.
It was addressed to a customs broker who was detained - but released today - we are told. We'll follow this story into next week.
