Guatemalan vehicle smuggler fined $116,939.30 for Prado

In Belmopan today, the Magistracy set a significant precedent in the prosecution of contraband cases. Court reports from the capital city indicate that Magistrate Henry Usher has found Guatemalan Jose Mario Escobar Porres guilty of “knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of customs duties.” On September nineteenth, Escobar was found on the Bullet Tree Road driving an uncustomed 2005 Toyota Prado. The vehicle was valued at twenty-eight thousand U.S. dollars, but a forty-five percent import duty, five percent Revenue Replacement Duty, fourteen percent sales tax, a five percent environmental tax, and five dollars cost of court put the total fine at a whopping one hundred and sixteen thousand, nine hundred and thirty-nine dollars and thirty cents. In sentencing Escobar, Usher told the defendant: “the Government of Belize has made a conscious effort to crack down on the illegal importation of goods in Belize for contraband purposes or otherwise. Therefore, it is the will of the legislature that the penalty be set so high. My hands are tied where this is concerned.” Escobar has been ordered to pay two thousand dollars by this Friday and thereafter, monthly payments of two thousand dollars towards his fine. The defendant is considered a flight risk so Magistrate Usher has remanded Escobar until his first payment is made, but we understand he will be “given every opportunity to contact any friends and family to assist him in making this first payment.” If Escobar fails to pay up, a three year sentence behind bars will take effect. Tonight we understand that the Customs Department will make an official application on Thursday for the Toyota Prado to be forfeited to the Government of Belize.