On Friday we told you about the close to 100 BDF uniforms and old BDF boat engine parts which were found at a residence in Orange Walk. BDF Commander David Jones told us that all the items had been written off and should have been destroyed by the Ministry of Finance. But they weren't and they ended up in the hands of a Mexican man who BDF and Police found near the Mexico border with BDF uniforms. He led police to the residence of Sarco Torres in Orange Walk Town.
Today the Financial Secretary who runs the Ministry of Finance confirmed to us that Torres was part of a work gang that the Ministry contracted to dispose of almost 1200 uniforms and other BDF items that had been written off. Waight says all the uniforms should have been burned - but he believes they were not, and Torres took a portion for himself.
Waight calls it a breakdown in procedure and, quote, "a serious breach."
But police don't seem to agree. They have concluded that no crime was committed, all all three men were released this weekend with no charges. Police confiscated the items.
We note that there are more than a few glaring irregularities in this case: first, the stash of uniforms at Torres's house included one brand new uniform - among the old ones. All the new uniforms, we are told, have individual serial numbers. Second, 7News has confirmed that Torres was in communication with a senior BDF officer on Thursday right around the time that the uniforms were found.
The BDF officer seems to be telling him that there are no soldiers on patrol in a certain area. We did call that officer on the number we got from the text message and he told us he is not authorized to speak. He referred us to General David Jones who repeated that he has no report that Torres was in communication with a senior BDF Officer.
We'll keep following this story.
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