There was some excitement in law enforcement circles last night when news went out that that the Coast Guard had intercepted a boat with two Cubans in front of Bellevue on the Belize City foreshore with no paperwork for entry into Belize.
Police responded and detained the two Cuban men who were the only persons aboard the Cabin cruiser. This morning no less than 16 personnel from the Coast Guard, the Anti Drug Unit, the Port Authority, the Immigration Department, The Customs Department and the Public Health Department converged on the docking area across from the Bellevue to board and inspect the boat.
Judging from the scale of things - the response was a little disproportionate - since the law enforcement team was big enough to search a cruise ship!
Let's just say there's no way all of them could have even fit on the boat. But the excess personnel dutifully waited while the ADU and the Coast Guard led an exhaustive item search. Nothing illegal was found.
The two men onboard say they had run out of gas and were trying to pick up some fuel in Belize. You don't need a permit to enter the waters for that - it's called force majeure - but up to this evening they were still detained at the Queen Street Police Station. According to police, they remain detained at the request of the Immigration Department.
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