Bus driver busted with $11,960 of uncustomed vegetables

A bus driver from the village of Cristo Rey in the Corozal District, appeared in Magistrates’ Court this morning and was charged with Uncustomed Goods for vegetables found in his vehicle. He is twenty year old Jose Quintero who was slapped with the charge of reckless possession of eleven thousand, nine hundred and thirty-six dollars of uncustomed goods. Quintero pleaded guilty and was fined thirty-five thousand eight hundred and eight dollars;three times the market value of the goods. To avoid jail time, he paid one thousand dollars forthwith as ordered by Magistrate Ed Usher with the remaining amount to be paid by January twenty-second, 2009. If he defaults on this payment, Quintero is liable to serve a prison term of no less than two years.

Another man, Winfield Wellington Dennison, was charged jointly with Quintero but the charge was withdrawn with the concurrence of the custom officers. The incident occurred yesterday at about five-thirty at a check point in Ladyville where acting on a tip, police intercepted a dark blue Dodge van. Dennison was behind the driver’s seat and Quintero was sitting in the passenger seat. A search of the van by the police unearthed seventy-four boxes of tomatoes, twenty boxes of sweet peppers, and an additional half sack of sweet peppers; all of it reportedly originating from Mexico.