Police to Get to Bottom of B.D.F. Uniform Mystery

The story of the used B.D.F. uniforms…everyone has weighed in from the respective government ministries, including home affairs and defense.  Those worn military garbs were all listed for destruction by the Ministry of Finance and a contract was subsequently awarded to a private citizen, who did not dispose of all the items.  A joint operation involving Belize Defense Force personnel and Orange Walk police arrested and detained a Mexican national who was found in possession of an assortment of old clothing.  He led the team to Orange Walk Town where a stockpile of similar uniforms, as well as outboard equipment, was discovered at the residence of Sarco Torres.  In the wake of the discovery, Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie and Ministry of Defense C.E.O. Felix Enriquez both commented on the matter.  On Tuesday, the media caught up with Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who is also the Minister of Finance.

Dean Barrow

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“They didn’t just end up in that gentleman’s possession, Mr. Codd, who is the Ministry of Finance official who was responsible for the destruction of the uniforms, contracted the services of the gentleman in whose possession so many of the uniforms, in fact, were found.  Clearly the Ministry of Finance’s official did not oversee the destruction in a way that we would have liked, in a way that ought to have been done and in the end, the gentleman who was contracted to do the actual destruction, the actual burning, ended up not destroying everything and keeping an amount of the uniforms for himself. I don’t know that it is fair to say that that’s not a possibility but it is speculation on your part.  Perhaps legitimate speculation, but as of now that’s all it is.  Clearly the police, in particular, must investigate the entirety of this matter and at the end of that investigation perhaps things will become clearer.  But for now, while I am concerned at the prospect that that speculation that you just advanced might turn out to be more than speculation.  For the moment, until a proper investigation we have to leave it at that.”

Reporter

“Is there any intention for an investigation as far as your office is aware?”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“Indeed.  Now we’re talking about two things.  We’re talking about the Ministry of Finance’s responsibility for the lax oversight that resulted in the person who was contracted to destroy the uniforms not having destroyed all and having kept some.  That’s one aspect that we have to deal with.  But from the point of view of the speculation that there was this criminal enterprise that you alluded to, I imagine the police naturally will in fact look into this.  I don’t know, and it would be unfair for me to try to guess, I don’t know how that will proceed because I don’t know what else there is apart from these text messages that the media has gotten hold of, but if there is no further material and this thing turns out that the investigation doesn’t get very far then let the police tell us that.”