For weeks we've been following the story of the fleecing of the BDF. We've shown you the ridiculous prices paid to politically favored companies for food and weapons.
But tonight the story is different; it's about the hairdresser who almost became a weapons dealer. Jules Vasquez has the story of Maria Estell Recinos-and the BDF weapons supply contract that got away:
Maria Estella Recinos is a well-known, long-established, and highly successful hairdresser in San Ignacio.
But, in January of this year she was approached to become a BDF supplier.
Sources tell us she was offered to supply from a list like this.
It includes 56,000 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, 35,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 30 M4 Carbine Rifles, night vision goggles, med-evac stretchers, a specialized boat engine, body armor, and medical stretchers, among other things.
Now under what circumstances would this highly specialized equipment come to be bid upon by a hairdresser?
Our sources say Maria Estella Recinos had a connect who offered it to her. She disputed that, and told us that she learned of the contract through her business network and decided to take a bid, which did require getting a license as a gun dealer.
Our sources tell us she was calling gun dealers offering to partner with them; she knew nothing about acquiring and importing guns and military hardware, but had the Ministry connect.
She told us she was approached by dealers after she became a licensed dealer, but also had her own trade connects.
Eventually, she made the bid under a company named K&M Construction, and she says she never heard back, so that was the end of it. She said she then realized she was not too interested in that field.
It's an interesting tale, the hairdresser who almost became a weapons dealer, but Maria Estella says she is just an aggressive single-mom businesswoman.
The Chairman of the Firearms and Ammunition Control Board Francis Usher told us that K&M Construction Ltd. is a licensed gun dealer but, quote, "has never supplied the Ministry of National Defence and Border Security, the Belize Defence Force or the Belize Coast Guard with any weapons or specialized military equipment."
