Trafficking of Indians; 11 try to cross border
Another group of illegal immigrants were captured in the wee hours of this morning behind a culvert in San Ignacio. At news time, it is known that a B.D.F. soldier is being detained and is likely to be charged. Indications are that there is an organized ring of the trafficking in persons operating under the noses of the Immigration Department in Belmopan. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
The interception of another group of illegal immigrants, all of Indian extraction, by police on mobile patrol in Santa Elena sometime overnight, has led to suspicion that a party of about fifty men, women and minors, attempting to enter Belize unlawfully, is being sheltered in proximity somewhere across the Western Border. It is the second capture in less than a week involving the smuggling of a contingent of eleven, presumably en route to the United States. Inspector Reymundo Reyes is the Deputy Commander of the San Ignacio Police Formation.
Reymundo Reyes
Insp. Reymundo Reyes, Deputy Commander, San Ignacio Police
“Sometime after 1 a.m. in the morning, San Ignacio Police were on mobile patrol when their attention was drawn to a blue in color pickup with camper, appearing to be loaded with goods or something to that effect crossing over the board bridge into Santa Elena. As a result the vehicle was pursued and the vehicle got lost in the Santa Elena area but police made further checks near the Red Creek Checkpoint where they came in contact with the said vehicle.”
Following a thorough search at that location, the team of officers did not find anything incriminating inside the vehicle. The driver of the pickup was also clean and subsequently allowed to continue his journey. They, however, revisited the area.
Insp. Reymundo Reyes
“Police came back into Santa Elena and made checks in the St. Lucia Street area where, beside a culvert, they encountered eleven persons of Indian descent of which two of them were females. They were questioned and checked and we realized that they were illegal immigrants and only five of them at the time had a passport which indicated to us that their last port of entry was from Nicaragua.”
As in the previous case involving the arrest and detention of Indian immigrants, they too were recorded as having entered that Central American country lawfully. How they proceeded north, through Honduras and Guatemala, speaks to the regional problem of human trafficking. In Belize, it would seem as though a ring of smugglers is operating out of Belmopan. The license plate on the vehicle in question was also registered in that municipality.
Isani Cayetano
“My understanding is that these individuals were drenched in water or soaked. Did they cross the river or were they left there after pursuit of this said vehicle?”
Insp. Reymundo Reyes
“The information at this moment is that they were, they actually crossed from the Benque Viejo side, through the river, into San Ignacio where the said vehicle picked them up. But because of the police vehicle pursuing the vehicle they were left there and told that after everything cools down or calms down that they were going to come back for them.”
Detained are thirty-six year old Ghanshyamkumar Patel, nineteen year old Ronakbhai Patel, thirty-one year old Davinder Singh, twenty-two year old Dalbir Singh, thirty-three year old Jagden Singh, twenty-two year old Ashvin Patel, twenty-two year old Navdeep Singh, thirty-four year old Gurjit Singh, thirty-six year old Minaben Patel and nineteen year old Minalben Patel. The other is a minor whose name is being withheld. 
They were all charged with the immigration offense of illegal entry. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
Last week, a group of illegal immigrants was captured in the area of Spanish Lookout. A driver with the British High Commission, Clifton Hyde, has been charged in connection with the incident. Two B.D.F. soldiers were also questioned when the Indian nationals were captured.
This human trafficking ring has connections with big time government officials in Belmopan. This is a complicated matter and no small naive individual can conduct this on his own. Someone is making a hugh sum of money, and of course because of their connection, they have immunity from the law or so they think.
Man! Its almost like its open season for the criminals here. I think our underground economy has far surpassed our actual economy. Belize is officially a haven for criminals. The immigration,police and BDF seem to be causing more crimes than they solve. I wonder what the legacy is that this administration PM plan on leaving behind.
This group of illegals and the previous batch from last week ALL share the same 2 names, Singh and Patel, which are both very common names in India. I think we should ask the Brits or US for help in determining if those are real names or not. There are a lot of terrorists in that part of the world these days, and we need the facts if we are to understand how dangerous this crime is for our own country.
Has someone opened up a new conduit for terrorists in the Jewel, to add to the existing Hezbollah activity? When push comes to shove, terrorists will kill anyone, even Belizeans — we’re all infidels to them.
In this case, I hope the police are smart enough to find the truck driver and lock him up along with his illegal human cargo. If human smugglers aren’t prosecuted, it effectively becomes legal.
These people could be terrorists that are on their way to America via Belize. They are not able to get into the US the right way so they use Belize and this way stay under the radar once in the US because no one will even know they are there. Have we in our country sunk so low that we do not know that we are putting thousands of lives in danger. These women could be suicide bombers.
I cannot believe belizeans are so stupid that they don’t stop to think about what they are doing before they do it. These terrorists only agenda is to kill infidels and Americans. I pray that the American government is on top of this.
Why is our government not speaking out on these awful things that are going on in the country. The PM is so silent it is scary. It is as if he does not see, hear or know what is taking place in this place.
agree all the way… i hope the US embassy can do there background check on these human trafficking, and why these people are trying so hard to come to belize and going up to USA. possible terrorist… Belize is sick if they are facilitating these sort of people to cause any type of danger to any one…
just to show how porous our borders are, where is the ministers of security who threatens teachers this is your job Johny . where the hell are u, damn!!! to deal with petty crimes yes he’s there making noise but for real important issues like this we don’t see the man. what a shame, disgrace for the gov. from pm to the last in political field except a few mayors who are doing something good but the rest are like scum bag of our nation. God help us.
BELIZE IS GOING TO BE EVERYBODYS SAFE HAVEN. THE GOVERNMENT IS TO BUSY STEALING MONEY FROM BELIZEANS THAT THEY ARE OVERLOOKING ALL THESE ILLEGAL ENTRIES INTO BELIZE.
This pm and gov .all need to be arrested and put in jail this is such a disgrace it’s not even funny any more I’ve been telling you all about this corrupt no good pm and gov. For years now so when unu belizeans have no jobs because of all the corruption going on unu can’t blame anyone else but unu stupid self . People we need to make a citizens arrest of all these corrupt politicians from the pm down and lock them all up and put in a new gov.end of story.
..Why single out these people there are more people of Caucasian descent who areTerrorist,what up with the brain washing. ..
What can we expect when we have a Minister of National Security that has never been anything other than a political bureaucrat. It is unbelieveable that we have such an important position filled by someone who has no experience or expertise in the field. Belize is totally enept at deal with these issues.
Singh/Patel are the family names. As India has a cast system there are about 6 million of these names. But it is correct that these people could be left radical individuals entering USA via beleize. 2 years ago in this article India arrested all these negative elements but nothing happened with the cases. Most of these agents are owners of travel/tourist agency. If you look at the air tickets of these caught aliens you will see that all of them both their ticket in cash and by handful of travel companies! Where is know your customer protocol? Companies like travel boutique or Master Travels should be seized by Indian police but that won’t happen. Please read this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2089652/From-India-U-S-jungles-Guatemala-Investigation-exposes-route-taken-human-traffickers.html