Well, according to a late evening release from The Ministry of Defence and Immigration, there's nothing much to know. The release discloses the findings of an rather unremarkable investigation thus far. It states that a private charter plane operated by Air Century out of the Dominican Republic landed at the PGIA on Sunday, October third at 6:54 pm and departed at 7:15. Thirteen Japanese passengers got off. Similarly on 18th and 19th September charter flights operated by the same company landed in Belize after 5:00 in the evening - and a total of 19 persons, also Japanese arrived. The agent for all three flights was Rudy Coye of Belize Aero Dispatch.

And according to the investigation, all relevant documents were submitted to the Civil Aviation Department and all details of the flight were known in advance.

The release adds that personnel of all agencies: customs, Immigration, and Police were on hand to met and process all flights.

Importantly the release adds that all 32 Japanese nationals had valid visas to enter Belize. And then in closing it adds that the investigating team has uncovered procedural errors both in the customs and immigration departments which warrants further investigation. The investigation is ongoing.

Now, hearing that officious, casual account, you'd think, well, a sudden spike in Japanese tourists - great! But the procedural irregularities are significant and consequential - they indicate that - in the case of the flight on Sunday October fourth - two general declarations of the flight were generated. Moreover the individual customs declarations for the visitors have gone missing and are unaccounted for - so a critical official record of who they are and what they are doing in Belize is not at hand.