If you ever go to the market and wonder how things like pears are so plentiful at this time of year - the truth is that a fair part of what you see on the vendor's stand is likely contraband from Mexico.
The robust supply routes came sharply into view on Friday in the Belize side of the Rio Hondo, across from the Mexican village of Alvaro Obregon. It's one of the contraband hotspots right now - and a joint customs and Coast Guard operation found 11 of these boats, called "kayukos" fully loaded down and coming across. Customs only managed to capture two of them, and one capsized because it was so overloaded that it keeled and took on water. The smugglers on board jumped out and swam away - while the "kayuko" and its contraband cargo went down into the depths of the Hondo.
So with just one boat, and what they managed to scoop up from the surface of the river after the vessell capsized - Customs got:
- 16cases tomatoes
- 62 sacks avocados
- 4 cases sweet pepper
- 7 sacks cabbage
- 16 sacks white onions
- 22cases big cola
- 14 cases superior beers
- 29 sacks flour
4 cases barrilto beers, and a few more items, including the aluminum kayak and its 15 horsepower engine. The goods alone are valued at $15,000 dollars and remember there were 11 vessels total - so the full value of that contraband movement was definitely close to a hundred thousand dollars.
And while that gives some estimate of the scale of contraband operations - the truth is that Friday is considered a slow day for contraband movements, Monday's are much heavier. Like we said, a robust trade, and this happens at multiple points along the Rio Hondo. This contraband point is nearest to the Belizean village of San Narciso.
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