A Closer Look At Contraband: A Special Report
Contraband – it is illegal trade that a significant number of people engage in, perhaps don’t even see anything wrong with, but that has plagued the Belizean economy for decades. Every time we purchase a pound of contraband carrots, or a case of smuggled beer, we undermine businesses that sell legitimate, locally-made or locally-grown products, by supporting an illegal form of trade whose agents don’t pay taxes to import those items. These are people who often cross the land borders and intentionally re-enter Belize, where there are no ports of entry staffed with customs officials to charge duties on items that they bring into the country. The practice deprives the government of revenues and puts legitimate merchants, grocers and vendors at a clear disadvantage because the contrabandistas, as they are called, sell their products for a tad cheaper. Tonight, we present to you part one of a special investigative report on the contraband trade and its impact on the Belizean economy. Here’s News Five’s Marion Ali with Part One of a two-part special report on contraband.
Adrian Rancharan
Adrian Rancharan, O.C., Customs, O.W.
“The bus is normally – that comes from Santa Cruz and the majority of the time they bring vegetables through that area. Contraband is very challenging when it comes to this area due to the close neighbouring country, bordering just by the river.”
The river that Customs Officer Adrian Rancharan speaks of is the Rio Hondo, the northernmost tributary that forms a natural border with Mexico. Santa Cruz Village in Orange Walk sits on the bank of the river across from Botes, a well-known Mexican community where Belizeans, primarily from the north, visit to purchase contraband goods. Because there are no immigration or customs check-ins on either side of the river, it is just a random crossing for people. To facilitate the illegal crossing, residents on the Mexican side provide ferries that charge five dollars. The Rio Hondo provides a convenient and easy means for contrabandists to smuggle goods across undetected. The anti-contraband operations cover extensive areas on the river and the dirt roads that lead to the Rio Hondo. In the absence of immigration and customs checkpoints in these hotspots, discouraging smugglers from carrying out their illegal business is a tall order.
Adrian Rancharan
“Total miles would be about – if you go by river it would be about ninety miles or more, and well-known landings, we have approximately twenty, more well-known landings, but apart from the known landings, we have little smaller landings.”
Belizeans in Orange Walk use the Santa Cruz access road to frequent Botes. They go to socialize, but upon their return, many of them stock up on contraband goods. It is a way of life for them when the patrols are not in the area. On November thirtieth, we accompanied a patrol team, consisting of customs, Belize Agricultural Health Authority, and Belize Defense Force personnel, on one of their operations in Santa Cruz. That day we boarded a Belize Defense Force vessel and accompanied the authorities upriver to look for signs of contrabandistas and their goods.
Marion Ali
Marion Ali (Stand Up)
“Contraband agents come by road and they come by river, but our trip along fifteen miles of the Rio Hondo today yielded nothing, except for fresh footprints along the riverside, suggesting illegal predawn activity.”
Whoever trampled through here earlier that morning, likely with their goods on their shoulders, walked bare feet. They came through this trail before dawn so authorities could not detect their presence. They probably had a small car or truck hidden in the bushes and drove out before the patrol reached the area.
On the day we accompanied the patrol team, they had received information about contraband goods coming across the river. It meant that the officers must go by road to intercept the vehicle or vehicles, and they must act quickly, most of the time driving on extremely bumpy roads, as if it were a high-speed chase, in order to reach the location in time. The vehicle coming out of Santa Cruz was a bus, loaded with passengers – and their contraband goods. Our cameras captured the patrol team confiscating a number of illegal items – goods that the passengers could not show any proof that they had legally imported the items.
When the contrabandistas spot the patrol from a distance, they hurl entire sacks of potatoes and other vegetables through the bus window. Here the officers, already accustomed to that tactic, easily find the discarded goods and take custody of them. Mexican beers are banned in Belize altogether since we already have three breweries. But someone tested their luck and tried to bring across more than a case of Dos Equis beers, which at this time is in high demand, Rancharan indicated.
Adrian Rancharan
“We’re approaching the Christmas season, which is a peak – high, the demand of liquor, cigarettes, carrots, vegetables. So at this time we are presently having our operations happening as we speak, having more vigilance in the area.”
Our trek took us on a road so thick with mud that the four-wheel drive pick-up truck that the law enforcers were in bogged. A few tries after the four-wheel drive feature did not help, our cameraman, George Tillett, saved the day while I video-recorded it. The patrol down that road was cancelled and the law enforcers pursued a less treacherous one. We went to Blue Creek community, which is further in Orange Walk and which lies across from La Union, another Mexican village where Belizeans frequent for contraband supplies. That visit was not as eventful as the one to Santa Cruz.
Part one of this special report magnified the challenges and often times treacherous conditions the anti-contraband patrol teams have to endure in order to carry out their jobs. It also brought to the fore the risks that contrabandistas are prepared to take to sell their illegal goods. In Part two on Thursday, we will look at a few of the businesses that are impacted by this trade.
