This morning in Orange Walk Town, nine men detained since Friday morning following the crash landing of a drug plane with dozens of bales of cocaine were arraigned in that jurisdiction’s magistrate’s court. Represented by attorneys Dickie Bradley and Leeroy Banner, the men were slapped with a drug trafficking offence and for violating a quarantine […]
Meanwhile, over the weekend, the police discovered an additional three bales of cocaine. Police reportedly went looking in the Crooked Tree Lagoon, and there they found the bales of drugs which contained a total of ninety packets. The drugs are from the drug plane that landed last week Friday. You’ll recall we told you that […]
The selling off of public assets at a steal by the financially-burdened Barrow administration in the months leading up to the November eleventh general elections will be fully investigated. This morning, the persons tasked with carrying out that investigation were sworn in at the Biltmore Hotel where the oath of office was administered by Senior […]
And while the Commission will look into irregularities in those sales, what about the allegations against former Minister of Works Rene Montero? The Attorney General’s Ministry is one of three government agencies presently looking into allegations of impropriety at the Ministry of Works under former minister. In early January, Minister of Infrastructure Development and Housing, […]
A shopkeeper in Belmopan was shot and killed after he tried to fight off a robber. The deadly incident happened last Friday in the Maya Mopan area. Abel Bardalez was inside his shop along with two deliverymen when the robber tried to hold them up. Bardalez didn’t comply with the thief’s orders and he pursued […]
The last of the remaining escaped prisoners are behind bars tonight. Police captured Michael Faux and Erwin Lanza on Sunday morning. They were the only two prisoners who remained on the run from the twenty-eight that broke out of the prison back in October. Commissioner Chester Williams told the press today that they were able […]
The National Institute of Culture and History was one of the remaining statutory bodies to have a new board of directors named. Late this afternoon, the Ministry of Culture issued a release announcing the six persons appointed to fill the board members’ positions. They are Arreini Palacio-Morgan, Carlo Habet, Michael Coye, Gavin Courtney, Merilyn Young […]
The Corozal Free Zone reopened for business today following ten months of closure. Discussions about reopening had started soon after the general elections, and there was collaborative planning to ensure area could open for much-needed business in the safest way possible. But when the gates opened today, it was not without its kinks. There were […]
Twenty-five bales of cocaine and nine men, most of whom are law enforcement officers, have been taken into police custody following an operation overnight in northern Belize District. Regional counterparts were tracking an aircraft which departed from South America sometime earlier, and when it entered Belize’s airspace, police and B.D.F. officers wasted no time springing […]
B.D.F. Commander Brigadier General Steven Ortega says the news of one of his very own soldiers detained following the drug plane interception is very distressing. This morning, Ortega confirmed that police arrested his driver in connection with the drug plane landing. As for the total prevention of drug plane landing, that might be impossible for […]
Minister of Defence and Border Security Florencio Marin Junior was asked for comment on this year’s first drug plane bust. The joint intelligence agency tracks several many drug planes daily, but this one was the first to intercept Belizean law enforcement. Minister Marin congratulated the officers for a job well done and says that the […]
Over a month after the Briceño administration imposed an indefinite quarantine regulation on the country, the much-anticipated loosening of restrictions came today. In a virtual press conference by the Ministries of Home Affairs and Health and Wellness, the new COVID regulations were unveiled. The first is an adjustment to the curfew. That was among the […]
Fitness buffs will be happy as the Minister of Home Affairs announced that they will now be allowed to open….but, with only fifty percent capacity and by appointment only. Additionally, gym owners must have a log of each customer, their contact number, and respective temperature reading upon entering the facility. Kareem Musa, Minister of […]
At the last sitting of the House of Representatives, legislation was amended to allow for the ticketing of violations under the Public Health Safety Act. Essentially, the five thousand dollars charge that was imposed on violators has now been reduced to five-hundred-dollar tickets for the improper wearing of face masks, breach of social distancing rules […]
Both ministers were sure to point out that the loosening of the restrictions is only possible due to the marked decreases in the country’s COVID figures. The numbers reflect that the virus’ positivity rate has decreased from over twenty percent around December seventeenth down to ten percent in the third week of January. While breaking […]
As we reported earlier, the drug plane interception and bust yielded twenty-five bales or seven hundred and fifty individual kilos of cocaine. The street value of the cocaine haul that was seized is still being calculated. While the men on board the vessel were found in possession of two bales, the remaining twenty-three were discovered […]
A business owner was shot and killed this morning in Dangriga. The carwash owner was at his property with a friend when the killer struck. He tried to get away, but he was shot twice. By the time police arrived at the scene, the businessman had been rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced […]
The Senate today ratified the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. It is also known as the New York Convention, which has been part of Belize’s law since 1980. But ratify now? According to the government, the formal ratification aims to facilitate the possibility of a debt-for-conservation-related transaction, which […]
Senator Courtenay also explained that upon ratification, the Government of Belize will enter a reservation. It will take the position that the ratification of the New York Convention has no retroactive feature. Eamon Courtenay, Senator for Government Business “The formality of ratification provides no legal benefit because it is already part of the law […]
And while that was the hope of the Government, they did not enjoy the support of the Opposition Senators. Lead Opposition Senator made it quite clear that senators on his side of the house were never consulted. He says bringing the convention to be ratified now raises a lot of questions and concerns. Michael […]
In response to Lead Opposition Senator Michael Peyrefitte, Senator for Government Business Eamon Courtenay pulled out black and white proof that shows that what was done today was a plan created by the Barrow Administration. The P.U.P. Government says that this process was in motion before the November eleventh elections. Today, Senator Courtenay whipped out […]
The family of twenty-one-year-old Nigel Williams Junior is calling on the Belize Police Department to investigate an act of police brutality. The family alleges that the young man was in his home village of Roaring Creek when police detained him for improper use of a face mask on Tuesday evening. The cops took him to […]
One of the hardest-hit communities in the COVID-19 pandemic is San Pedro Town. The once-bustling tourist hotspot was the first part of the country to go into a lockdown in March of 2020. Then the borders were closed for the better part of the year. Even after reopening at the end of last year, businesses […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted thousands across the country, including those on the frontline in the medical profession. Since the first case in Belize was recorded back in March of last year, limited access has been granted to the media to view firsthand how the COVID-19 Unit at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital operates. It’s […]
There have been eleven thousand, seven hundred and eighty-eight confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Belize. Of that number, two hundred and ninety-three deaths have been reported. It is a case fatality rate of approximately two and a half percent. Not all of those who tested positive for the disease were admitted to the ward at […]
