Customs Department Rails Against Charge of Officer

Colin Griffith

The charges brought against one of its own, Customs Officer Dion Castillo, did not sit well in the department.  This evening, Comptroller Colin Griffith publicly registered his discontent about the charge brought against his officer. Griffith told the press that the officer didn’t do anything wrong while he was on duty and so the department stands behind him. 

Colin Griffith, Comptroller, Customs & Excise Dept.

“I have to register my strong objection to Officer Deon Castillo being charged and it was annoying to recognize or to learn that the Belize Police Department decided to object to bail. The intention is to have this young public officer incarcerated. I cannot countenance the reason behind that. I have been informed that the intention to object to bail is that by issuing the clearance to this vessel to which the officer had no idea that it would not have gone for commercial purposes was tantamount to the officer being a border jumper. I disagree with that and we were able to get bail for Officer Castillo. We had officers with him and we were also able to assist the immigration officer that was charged also.   The customs department is satisfied that officer Dion Castillo operated how a normal customs officer would have operated and didn’t do anything that is outside of his job description; nothing whatsoever.”