As we reported last night, on Sunday, October fourth at around 7:00 pm, a charter flight arrived from Port Au Prince, Haiti with mainland Chinese on board. The plane was un-declared, meaning no declaration of the passengers was made as if the plane had arrived empty.

Last night, that's all we had; tonight, disturbing new details are known about what is not an isolated event, but an operation with complicity in - at a minimum - the customs and immigration departments.

Seven News has confirmed that there was not one plane, but three: the first on Saturday, September 18th., the second on Sunday September 19th., and the third, three days ago, on Sunday October third.

On the first flight, 13 Chinese arrived; on the second flight, there were 7; and on Sunday night's flight, another 13 - bringing the total to 33 arrivals.

Shockingly, for Sunday's flight, the individual customs declaration forms are missing; as we understand it, the officer on duty claims they were stolen.

That means no one knows the names, identity or whereabouts of the passengers; they have "vanished." Incidentally, late reports say that the two customs officers that were posted at the airport will be transferred to Belize City for a period of time to facilitate a thorough investigation.

It is of note that a single customs officer - who is now under investigation - was present for all three flights. Then, there is another official form that has become the subject of some very funny business. That is what's known as the general declaration form - which is the official record of who or what is on every flight that lands at the airport. Those forms are the single most important record of every flight - and are, or should be, nothing to play with. But, played with, they were…..

It appears that in the case of the flight on Sunday October third, two general declarations were generated: a false one and a real one. The false one shows that the flight came empty- while the real one shows it had 13 Chinese passengers. Those familiar with the system tell us that represents a high level of daring and suggests that big money was paid - all around. Minister of Defence and Immigration Carlos Perdomo told us this afternoon that two investigations have been launched: one at the airport coordinated by CEO Allen Whylie with police assistance, and one at the administrative level that Perdomo himself is leading in Belmopan.

He says that the fact gathered so shows that there were unauthorized entries, fictitious documents and conspiracy. He told us it is quote, "very blatant (and shows) a high level of collusion and participation across departments."

The investigations are ongoing and all the players are not yet known - but we'll keep watching it very closely. For context we note that for the past 20 years, there has been a sustained corrupt practice of smuggling Chinese and Hong Kongese through Belize, most often to the United States - by one means or the other - whether it be fake passports, fake visas or fake permanent residence cards.

Typically though, the Chinese arrive though Cuba - or in the past - Panama, this is the first time we have learned of a charter flight coming out of Haiti.

Interestingly, this flight claimed to have arrived from Haiti but the flight plan indicated that it was returning to Santo Domingo - which is on the same Hispaniola land mass.