International conman caught in Belize

An international conman who is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States was caught in Belize on Monday. The police department took several days to release the information because they had to trace the web of deceit that took root as far as Australia and the Canary islands. Forty three year old Milos Gasper had made a career of renting expensive equipment and then selling them. His latest scam involved a yacht worth over four hundred thousand dollars. He rented the vessel in the Island of Martinique for seven days but he never returned it. He was recently spotted off the coast of Venezuela, and managed to slip pass law enforcement and turned up in Belize. According to Francis Woods of Old Belize at mile five on the Western Highway, it was the good communication work of Crimestoppers that led to the arrest of Gasper and his accomplices.

Francis Woods, Co-Owner, Old Belize
“Monday night I got an email from a Crimestoppers coordinator with the flyer that showed that there was a missing boat. It had a picture of the boat and a picture of the four occupants that had taken the boat.”

Jose Sanchez
“And that boat was named Ishtar?”

Francis Woods
“It was named Ishtar and it was in the Marina. Fortunately the flyer had on the pictures of the occupants, that’s how I recognized—that’s how I knew this was the boat. After doing more detailed checks and details on the boat we saw that this was the boat. They had painted over stripes and changed the name. Really to the untrained person, you’d have never known that was the same boat.”

Jose Sanchez
“What were the telltale signs that you found of change?”

Francis Woods
“After knowing it stolen we noted that they had painted over the stripes. They painted over the name and quite frankly when they checked into the marina they didn’t have much paperwork. So the authorities had seized their passports. Meanwhile, they had fake bill of sales faxed up to the marina. If it wasn’t for that flyer that came through Crimestoppers this boat would have still been here and might have moved onto Mexico or other places. Actually we found out the guy was trying to sell the boat right here in the marina to other customers that are here.”

Jose sanchez
“I understand that the captain of the boat is wanted by the F.B.I. for other things in the U.S.”

Francis Woods
“Along with that flyer came a warrant for his arrest from the F.B.I. Apparently, this is his scam; this is how he does his stuff. He rents R.V.’s or sail boats and he doesn’t return him. He has a lot of charges against him for fraudulent cheques. “

Jose Sanchez
“Two other occupants were released and one was not caught is that correct?”

Francis Woods
“One had left the country, we assumed he left the country. He certainly left the area. And right now three are still in custody. As soon as we verified that this was the boat, we called the coastguard, Commander Cedric Borland and within half hour the police were here. The folks weren’t here yet but they waited right here until they returned. These guys were arrested within two hours of when we figured this was the stolen boat. So I’d like to say that our authorities acted very efficiently.”

In addition to Gasper, the other occupants of the vessel twenty-eight year old Jan Minarik and thirty-seven year old Miroslav Dolezalek, all from the Czech Republic were arrested. Fifty six year old Peter Dombrovsky who carries an Australian passport is still at large.