Major haul by customs: 2 containers of pseudoephedrine
It’s a big bust for Customs and the Police. This afternoon, three containers of illegal drugs and counterfeit items were detected by alert officials who have been tracking the importation of illegal drugs into Belize and authorities pulled off their biggest haul yet. When the first two containers were opened at the port this afternoon, the first contained counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes but the second contained the prize, close to nine million tablets. Tests were conducted on the pills and authorities confirmed that they were the potent pseudoephedrine.
The more valuable container loaded with pseudoephedrine was consigned to a Free Zone Company called Mi Agape. The shipment labeled as general merchandise had been sitting at the port compound for the last twenty days and that’s why customs decided to contact the principals to ask them to clear the goods. Through the broker of Mi Agape, Customs officials were informed that the company had not ordered the shipment which then prompted an investigation of the cargo. When officials unloaded the cargo box by box, in front of a JP, they uncovered forty boxes of pseudoephedrine among two hundred boxes of footwear and clothing.
Collin Griffith, Collector of Customs
“What these people do is they load the substance in first so when we open the container you’ll have to practically unload everything to get to the illegal items. Presently we are looking at forty cases with an estimate of nine million tablets. The value of the tablets from what we have received on the street, it ranges from about two to four dollars.”
Late this evening, police and custom officials were busy unloading a third container also consigned to Mi Agape as general merchandise. To confirm their suspicions, Customs found another bounty, forty boxes of the same pseudoephedrine. The containers were shipped from mainland China to Belize to two separate companies in the Corozal Free Zone. Details of the principals of Mi Agape are still not clear, and investigators say they are close to making a full disclosure. There is rampant speculation that the shipment of the illegal drug into Belize is part of a well organized drug ring involving a Mexican cartel that is using Belize as a transshipment point.
