Battling Contraband in the South

Therese Martinez

Illegal cross- border trade continues to be a challenge for the Customs and Excise Department and by extension, the Government of Belize. We often report on the country’s porous borders specifically in the north where contrabandistas would illegally import food items, beers and even pharmaceuticals. But as reporters found out today, these illegal activities are not unique to the northern and western parts of the country, but are also problematic for the south, where contrabanding takes place via the Caribbean Sea. 

Therese Martinez, Asst. Comptroller (Southern), Customs & Excise Department

“I am responsible for the south and wherever you go, because the country has porous borders. Along the area that I am responsible for is water, is the sea and so from there, we have many persons, vessels and so that are able to enter our waters from various countries via the sea. So, one of the things that’s challenging for us is being able to man the area; it is so huge so there are possibilities. Because the area is so huge for us, it goes beyond the resources that we have. And we do have now in the south the [Belize] Coast Guard that is now based at the Big Creek office. They are not operational yet, but the office is under construction; we also have the police there with us as well as customs. So we’re working on enabling the environment with that enforcement team in place to be able to challenge any of those oncoming situations.”