Belize City businessman charged for keeping workers’ passports

Police investigations into a case of possible human trafficking have resulted in the arrest of a Belize City businessman. According to court reports, forty-three year old Kamal Nandrani has been charged with five counts of Unlawfully Withholding the Identification Papers of his employees. He pled not guilty to the offences and the accused has been released on bail of two thousand dollars. Police say on Wednesday they visited Nandrani’s store at the corner of East Canal and Orange Street where five different employees told them that the boss had taken away their passports and locked them in a safe in his room. At least one of the workers, Haresh Surnani, has also alleged that Nandrani was in the habit of beating him and has refused to pay him. The case has been adjourned until July twenty-eighth.