El Salvador's new President Nayib Bukele was elected on an all out gang crackdown - and , now, police fear that some of the dangerous gang members form that country could be running over to Belize - Belmopan in particular.
Police believe they have found two of them linked to tortious central american gangs, Calle 18, and MS-13.
The first report is about a Salvapan resident who was fined $3,500 for using a sign to promote a gang related activity. He is 23 year old Lorenzo Santiago and he is believed to be a 18th Street gang member. Santiago was arraigned at Belmopan Magistrate Court on Thursday of last week where he pled guilty and was fined. He must pay up by 31st December 2019, in default 12 months imprisonment. The charge arose after Lorenzo publicly acknowledged ties to the 18th Street gang.
And in a similar case regarding another notorious Central American gang, yesterday, Belizean authorities handed over a Las Flores MS-13 fugitive to Salvadoran and Guatemalan Interpol representatives at the Belize Western Border. 36 year old Salvadoran Tomas Alexander Paises was initially detained on the 18th 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, and he was charged with "failure to Comply with a visitors permit" by immigration Officials. Police investigations into his background revealed that Paises was convicted 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.
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