In 2014, Retired Superintendent of Police Julio Valdez, then-deputy of National Crimes Investigation Branch, wrote the Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, concerning his investigation into a trove of files removed from the Immigration Department in October of 2013, at the height of the Elvin Penner scandal. Those files were retrieved from attorney-at-law Arthur Saldivar […]
The former senior cop stated that this branch of the investigation came about after his colleagues in Belize City spoke with Saldivar and retrieved the files. But when he attempted to access the original files at the Department, Valdez told the Committee, he was denied because an internal Immigration audit was underway and what became […]
The only man above Valdez, indeed above all officers in the Police Department, is Commissioner Allen Whylie. Appointed in 2013, he was previously C.E.O. in the Ministry of National Security, and later Defence and Immigration when it was split between 2010 and 2012. Appearing this afternoon, he was confronted with Valdez’s testimony and staunchly maintained […]
The Commissioner blames ‘media spin’ for the misunderstanding and what he says is his subsequent decision to withdraw from any administrative handling of either the ‘missing files’ case or the Won Hong Kim case. But at the end of the day, he conceded that even he does not know how the former case turned out […]
But what was among that list of files handed over? Valdez read a fairly long list of nationality files and accompanying documents for some familiar names such as Yiu-Pang Chen and Quoc Vinh Truong who would show up in the Audit Report. What he noticed from his long experience as a cop, including stints commanding […]
Speaking of background checks, were the Police Department or Ministry of Immigration consulted about the Cabinet’s decision to stop Special Branch police from carrying out the standard background checks on applicants for nationality? Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie indicated that he was not even sure if the check was a legal requirement or merely an […]
We’ll come back to the senate hearings later, but a Belize City resident wanted for the stabbing death of Phillip Samuels has surrendered himself to police and is being held in custody pending an arraignment for murder. Cecil Gill, the prime suspect in the vicious attack of the thirty-one-year-old, turned himself in earlier today. On […]
The Senate hearing continued into this afternoon where the Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie gave testimony. The other major investigation to be carried out by the Police Department was in relation to Won Hong Kim. Auditor General Dorothy Bradley is on record as asking for police investigation into the irregularities that caused the fugitive businessman […]
Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie has been seen to be dragging his feet on investigating the allegations within the Auditor General’s Report. He recently stated that he would wait on instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions and the conclusion of the Senate Inquiry, even though he conceded that he doesn’t have to. But according […]
On Tuesday, police formally arrested and charged forty-eight-year-old Ernesto Cadle for manslaughter by negligence and causing the death by careless conduct of sixty-two-year-old Benedicto Mendez. The Belizean taxi driver of Cowpen Village was also slapped with charges of Driving an Unlicensed Motor Vehicle, Driving a Motor Vehicle with Alcohol Concentration above the Prescribed Limit and […]
This afternoon, CIB personnel escorted two of their own to court to be arraigned for extortion. Corporal Marvin Salam, a police officer of Corozal, along with Corporal Anthony Blair of the Ladyville area, appeared before Magistrate Carlon Mendoza. The duo is stationed at the Racoon Street Police station in Belize City. Allegations are that on […]
GSU police have seized almost a pound and a half of powder cocaine from the streets of the Old Capital during an operation conducted this evening. At around four o’clock, a team of officers was called out to an area of Sittee Street where they conducted a search inside a boat. In the interior of […]
A Corozal along with a Belize City man is tonight out on bail after they were arraigned for drug trafficking. Both were busted on Tuesday with almost four and a half pounds of weed in the Port Loyola area of Belize City. Just before midday, a patrol on Louise Bevans Street, in the south side […]
Courts Dare to Dream Scholarship program kicked into gear today for eight students from across the country. They received four-year scholarships to high schools which the company says is part of their corporate responsibility to give back to the community. News Five’s Duane Moody reports. Duane Moody, Reporting Do you want to be a […]
The Meso-American Reef Leadership Program is an initiative that promotes leadership towards the conservation of the reef which is shared by Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. Annually, the program brings together a cohort of conservationists and field professionals in the areas of tourism and the environment to look at projects currently in place to tackle […]
This afternoon, Belize City police took to the streets to acquaint themselves with residents of the Port Loyola, Driftwood Bay and Palm Grove communities. The weekly meet and greet took place earlier today and News Five caught up with a team of officers led by Eastern Division South Commander Marco Vidal in the vicinity of […]
Life will become easier for the residents of May Pen, Belize District. After a decade of waiting, they finally got their wish. The community will now be able to travel to other villages through a sturdy new bridge that was opened this morning. It is welcome news for students, who have had to walk bare […]
