Guatemalan with firearm busted in southern Belize

Hector Lopez

A Guatemalan man has been arrested and charged with gun and immigration offences. A B.D.F. Sergeant reported to police that they were conducting operations in the Machaquilha Area in the Toledo District when they came across forty-three-year-old Hector Rene Lopez Carisal of Poptun, Guatemala. A search on Lopez led to the discovery of a sixteen gauge shotgun, five – twenty gauge cartridges and two – sixteen gauge cartridges. Lopez wasn’t able to produce a gun license and as a result he was detained and handed over to Punta Gorda Police. Lopez was charged with one count of kept firearm without a gun license and two counts of kept ammunition without a gun license. He appeared before the court on Monday, pleaded guilty and was sentenced for one year for each count to run concurrently. He was also fined one thousand dollars for illegal entry which he was ordered to pay immediately. Failing to do so will land him in prison for one month.