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Details are sketchy at this time but 7NEWS understands there was an incident this morning at the western border that involved a Guatemalan national and a Belizean police officer. Reports are that around ten this morning an unidentified Guatemalan man was detained following an infraction at the Belize border. A policeman wearing civilian clothing detained him. He caught the Guatemalan as he was running from Belize’s border into Guatemala and roughly apprehended him. This happened in plain view of the money changers and border hawks on the Guatemalan side who were none too happy to see one of their countrymen roughly collared by a Belizean cop.

Still, undaunted, that same Belizean officer, a sergeant we are told, went across the border immediately after wearing the same civilian clothes. And when he got across, a mob of Guatemalan money changers attacked him and viciously beat him. In fact, the Guatemalan police had to be called to save him from the merciless mob. They took him into custody and kept him there! To resolve the matter, an informal, unofficial prisoner exchange was worked out where the Guatemalan detainee was released by Benque Viejo police and the Belizean sergeant was sent back. That happened just before two this afternoon.

Sounds like less than a fair exchange - but that’s how it was resolved. There are reports that the OAS adjacency office, which is headquartered at the border, intervened but no one from that agency would confirm. Belize’s CEO in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Alexis Rosado did confirm that there was an informal deal worked out but said that neither his Ministry nor the OAS office had any involvement. Though we spoke to multiple senior officers, no on in the Belize Police Department had any comment.