-Police tackle Salvadoran gang infiltration in Belmopan
Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams told the Guardian Newspaper that they are closely monitoring the activities of Central American Gangs in Belmopan, in particular those that are rooted in El Salvador. With that an anti-gang task force has been empanelled in the Capital City to specifically target those gangs and their members.
On Tuesday October 1, the Anti-Gang Task Force and INTERPOL personnel of the Belize Police Department handed over Tomas Alexander Paises, a 36-year-old Salvadoran construction worker and member of the MS-13 gang to Salvadoran and Guatemalan INTERPOL representatives at the Belize Western Border. Paises was initially detained on the 18 September 2019 during a Police operation targeting gang members in the Belmopan area. A check of his legal status revealed that he had overstayed his time in Belize, as such he was charged with “failure to comply with a visitors permit” by immigration Officials. Police investigations into his background, with the assistance of Anti-Gang counterparts in El Salvador, revealed that Paises was convicted via an Ex parte trail in El Salvador in October 2015, along with other MS-13 gang members for Robbery and Kidnapping. Paises will serve a 48 year prison sentence in El Savador for crimes committed in that country. Prior to his detention, he was residing at Maravilla Street, Las Flores area, Belmopan City.
Police also announced that on Thursday 26th September 2019, Lorenzo Santiago, 23 of the Salvapan Area in Belmopan was formally arrested and charged for the crime of “Using a sign to Promote a Gang Related Activity.” That is the 18th Street Hispanic Gang. Lorenzo was arraigned at the Magistrate Court in Belmopan where he pled guilty and was fined $3,500 plus $5.00 cost of court, to be paid by December 2019, in default 12 months imprisonment. The charge arouse after Lorenzo publicly acknowledged ties to the 18th Street gang.
Speaking to The Guardian, Compol Williams stated that the police is actively targeting the Central American gangs in Belmopan before they take root and before we have a “serious problem”.
