Arsonist sets fire to container full of contraband

Tonight police investigations continue into a strange case of arson that took place on the Customs compound in Belize City last week. Reports to News Five are that around three a.m. on June sixth, someone cut through the fence surrounding the Port Authority, busted a hole into a forty-foot container and–instead of stealing the contents–set them on fire. The goods in question were more than five thousand boxes of assorted biscuits. The vehicle was impounded by customs officials on May fifteenth when the driver, Oscar Castro, was stopped at a customs checkpoint north of Orange Walk Town. Castro could not produce the keys to the container for officers to check inside, so he was ordered to drive to customs headquarters in Belize City for an inspection. When the container was opened the biscuits were discovered but apparently no owner was identified. At some point later, businessman Arlo Bodden of Corozal appeared and claimed the goods as his. The documents he produced, however, were not those for the container in question and in the absence of the proper paperwork the biscuits were declared contraband. Speaking to Bodden today by telephone he told News Five that, yes, he underpaid duty at the northern border and attributed his being busted to a jealous neighbour who ratted him out to the authorities. “I have lots of enemies” Bodden told us. But which of those enemies would go so far as to break into the Customs compound, breach a sealed container and set fire to the contents? “That’s a good question,” said Bodden, who admitted that whoever set the fire did him the favour of burning up the evidence. And while–unfortunately for Bodden–that fire will have no effect on whatever fine the Customs Department may levy on him, police say they have yet to make an arrest in this most unusual case of arson.