Caribbean International Brewing is Raided; $3.1 Million Dollars Recovered

On Friday, a team of law enforcement officers, accompanied by officials from other government agencies, descended on Caribbean International Brewing Ltd. in one fell swoop.  The raid on the makers of Mine Beer just outside of Carmelita followed a lead that was provided to the Belize Police Department in which it was suspected that the proprietors of the company may have been conducting illicit activities.  The operation yielded three point one million dollars in cash, it also led to the detention of several Asian nationals who have reportedly committed immigration offenses.  The joint operation, says Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, also included the Anti Trafficking in Persons Unit.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“We had received some information in respect to activities that may be occurring at that particular beer factory.  Based on that, we put together a multi-agency taskforce headed by police and comprised of immigration, labor, FIU, income tax, as well as personnel from the ATIPs Unit.  They went in on the strength of a search warrant to conduct searches, looking for anything that may indicate the presence of human trafficking or money laundering within the particular establishment.  Searches were conducted and the search led to the discovery of over three point one million Belize dollars, that also [was] comprised of U.S. currency.  Also found were a number of Asian nationals who had immigration violations in respect to their stay in Belize and that includes the owner of the factory.  Those persons who were found to have violated the immigration laws were charged by the immigration department and were arraigned at Orange Walk Town Magistrate’s Court last Friday.  In respect to the monies found, the FIU department is currently in possession of those monies and I think, sometime this week, they will apply to the court for permission to seize the money, pending the outcome of a money laundering investigation.  Again, that’s a process that will be required to go through the courts and once the court gives the go ahead for the money to be seized while the investigations are ongoing, then they will look more in-depth in terms of whether or not the company was in compliance with the financial laws, filing taxes and paying their fair share of taxes, as the case may be.”