More immigration officers charged for flight of Chinese nationals
Two more immigration officers were arraigned today in a human smuggling ring that was busted last week. Mark Tench and senior immigration officer, Matthew Guy, both thirty-seven years of age were escorted by police before the Chief Magistrate, Margaret Gabb McKenzie. Flanked by their attorneys, Tench and Guy were charged separately, each with two counts of Forgery of an Official Document and two counts each of Purposely Aiding and Facilitating the Commission of an Offense under the Immigration Act. Both also met bail of five thousand dollars on the condition that they must all report to the clerk of court once a week and must not interfere with the prosecution’s witnesses. Chief Magistrate McKenzie also ordered quick disclosure of the evidence and adjourned the matter until December fourteenth.
On Tuesday four immigration officers who police have linked to the scam were charged with the same two offences. Senior Immigration Officer, Angelica Lima, along with Candra Wade, Jason Daly and Lindsay Wade faced a combined amount of sixty four charges.
The thirty-three Chinese nationals arrived at the PGIA on chartered flights from Port au Prince, Haiti on September eighteenth and nineteenth and October third. News five has obtained this copy of the list of passengers who arrived at the PGIA on all three chartered flights. This past Tuesday, the minister of police, Doug Singh, and the Minister of Defence both faced the media in the scandal that is rocking the government. Perdomo told the media that he is not involved, while the minister of police said that the ring is well organized and far reaching, involving high profile persons. The Belize embassy in Cuba, according to the minister, has been banned from issuing visas to Chinese nationals who are believed to head to Belize from the island as they make their way to the United States.
the next department should be the customs. They are all living large allowing a lot of illegal supplies entering Belize. I hope the government is investigating them also.
Lets keep up the pressure!!!
My People, lets not get satisfied with simple charges! Lets rally for the offenders to be convicted/sentence to prison.
We have to pressure for the high level of public officials to be charged also and not only the scapegoat, the low-level public officers. If there is suspicion that any politicians to be involved, he/she should be fired and convicted for treason.
We need men of unquestioned integrity, honesty, and patriotism to defend our borders, which is what immigrations and customs is supposed to do. I would stat all over, and put someone like Brig. Lloyd Gillett [retired] in charge. I believe his command of BDF was untainted by scandal, and bloody few Belizean officials can boast that!
To tell you the truth, who can you go to to do the investigation, if the big fishes are involved. Those immigration officers are not in the position to issue visas like that. They have to get the permission from the BIG BOSS. Before those Chinese immigrants come into our country the immigration officers have to get the O.K form their BOSS to give them entry, So Mr. Perdomo don’t play the fool to ketch the wise, you know for a fact that those immigration officers are only your passport. They do what they are told to do By you or the high official of the immigration department. This is big money you talking about, you get the big chunck of the pie while the ones that do the dirty work get the crumbs, meaning Mr Perdomo you get the $50,000.00 or more while the little officers in their little uniform gets if i say $300.00 that might be too much. You need to be investigated yourself.
On another note, you guys are making this thing to be a big event for the government, what about all the land that the ministers and you are selling, what about all the corruption that is going on with the ministers of government, what about that, you and your government are criminals too. But yet uno hurry fi arrest the little immigration officers. uno no talk bout all the illegal SH@T goind on in government . I hope that someone in the high places gets arrested too, not only the small people, they are only doing what they are told to do.
@Nina..if you so sure about who getting all the money why don’t you get up and do something about it! We need strong people to bring these people down!!
What should happen is the ones who got charged need to TALK and start spillin names….after all they are the “only ones” right…..sooooo…..talk man!!!!!
Good for them I wish the proper authorites would investigate those immigration and costumes officer at the western border, the same di happen, and they get away, it’s time to root out all these corrupted officers from these departments.
These people have no shame!!!
I am always wacthing them by the border and I know they sell them soul for money!!!
Sometimes they go without nothing when they start to work by the end of their first year they are driving around the latest model car, suddenly they look like king pharoah, with all the gold on themyou just guess how all this happen!!!
Proud……I am not stupid to put my face in this crop….as much as i would love to I don’t want to be found dead with gunshot wounds to mi head, i love life and i love my family, people who are witnesses to any wrong doing do NOT have good witness protection. I don’t want to die, not just yet.
Corruption, Corruption, Corruption……. This is what our whole country is about!!!! How will there ever be a better and safer Belize if this is what is happening???? Something must be done!!!
This here story is wrang and fraught of corruption in the highest places! You know when you walk in dog poo, and you did not notice….then all of a sudden you get that rhattid scent…that scent that something stinks to high heaven and is fouling up the place and then you finally discover that your shoe has on poo!…..Well for me…that is this story….them on the pres confe walk inna di poo..and dem shoe full ah it! Check it….the scent di bout! Belizean noh fool fool!
money tak bs walk!!!
Smokey Joe saying this from the grave yonder!!
check out all the immigration and costume officers turn egyptians king and queens, after a while in the department they …. gold!!!
I am not proud of the things people do for money, but the salary is small and time are hard so people have to do what they have to do to put bread on the table besides there are much bigger crimes than that that people get away with everday, what about all the murders?
Oh Nina… sounds like you saw something!
Robert, we need men of unquestioned integrity, honesty, and patriotism in Cabinet!
Look at who we elect to run our most prized possessions, to secure our future and our chidren’s, to make important decisions that will affect us as citizens, and to represent us internationally.
They are self-serving, dishonest, and greedy, Sad to say, our brothers at the boarders learned from OUR Leaders as they get away with worse and we still keep on supporting them, elections after election.
For sure this is much bigger than the six ‘small fish’ that got caught; if these guys acted on their own they would not have brought the airplane to the international airport. Only a ‘BIG FISH’ would be so brazen to attempt such a smuggling operation, because they have the power to cover-up their crimes. Think they care about all the killings and robberies in our communities? Those are just enough to take the attention from their high profile crimes, it’s a shame that we as Belizeans have to put up with this bs and if we put the others there the same white collar crimes will continue.
It would be an understatement to say “BELIZE IS GOING TO THE DOGS”