Separate busts of illegal immigrants

There are two cases of suspected human smuggling to report tonight. Two vehicles were pursued by police on the highways: one near Georgeville and the other at the Burrell Boom junction. Both looked alike and were carrying illegal immigrants. The first vehicle sped away and when the police caught up with it, only the driver was in the vehicle. But police managed to get to a van with Orange Walk license plates registered to one Mathew Williams who was not in the vehicle. Some of its passengers managed to get away while others were taken to court. Duane Moody has that story.

Duane Moody, Reporting

A group of Salvadoran nationals were processed in court late this afternoon after they were handed over by police to the Belize City Branch of the Immigration Department. They are: thirty-four year old Jose Antonio Arevalo, twenty-seven year old Maria Deisy Leon Tobias, twenty-five year old Jose Abdulio Escobar and a seventeen year old minor. Reports are that sometime after four this morning, this white van with Orange Walk license plate number C-O-4-4-3-1 was transporting some fifteen illegal persons—both males and females—when it was intercepted at the police checkpoint near the Burrell Boom junction with the Phillip Goldson Highway.

The driver of the vehicle spotted the authorities as he exited the Burrell Boom Road and diverted to Belize City. This alerted the authorities who pursued him until the vehicle reportedly came to a stop near an open lot some two hundred yards from the checkpoint. The occupants alighted the van and escaped into nearby bushes. Police reportedly fired shots at the tires to avoid the immigrants from fleeing, but only five—one female and four males—were captured and detained by Ladyville police. They were later handed over to the immigration department and charged with illegal entry. A manhunt is underway for the other ten individuals including, the driver of the van. Sources close to News Five say that the Salvadorans were en route to the northern border with Mexico after they illegally entered the country through the western border with Guatemala by river.

The incident is believed to be an organized ring. Another alleged human smuggling case reportedly occurred on Monday night; this time in Georgeville, Cayo. Sometime around nine-thirty p.m., another white van, similar to that impounded at the Ladyville station, was confiscated in the west and its driver detained. News Five was reliably informed that the van, occupied by a number of illegal immigrants, was pursued by immigration and police officers. The driver managed to evade the officers, but when the police caught back up with the van, the occupants were no longer inside. According to our sources, the two incidents may be linked. In both cases, the non-Belizeans are still at large and investigations continue into the alleged smuggling. Duane Moody for News Five.

Aside from the five Salvadorans charged this afternoon, two others were arraigned for illegal entry before Magistrate Adolph Lucas. They are Honduran national, Rigoberto Mendoza Palma and Salvadoran national Santos Guevara Amaya. While Palma was caught this morning by police on Antelope Street in Belize City, Amaya was caught by Immigration officers on Monday morning at the terminal as he exited a D and E bus from Benque Viejo Del Carmen. All seven pleaded guilty to the charge and were fined one thousand dollars which they were unable to pay and remanded. Removal orders were also filed for them to be deported to their respective countries. In an update, late this evening, News Five was informed that five Salvadoran women, believed have been involved in this morning’s bust, were found by immigration officers in an abandoned house in Los Lagos. It is expected they will be taken to court on Wednesday. Back to the owner of the vehicle involved in the Burrell Boom bust. We note that in June 2012 a search was executed at the house of Orange Walk resident Matthew Williams. About ten thousand dollars were found in the upper floor of the house but the GSU also found four Belizean Passports, one Panamanian and one Spanish passport in one of the bedrooms. At the time of the finding, Williams claimed that he was assisting some persons with nationality and had found the Belizean passport.  It is also alleged that the passports appeared to be have been tampered with.