After being on the run from the Belize police for about 8 months, Abbas Khan, 38, a Belizean businessman of 3rd Street, Corozal Town, who escaped from the Orange Walk Police Station where he had been detained for the illegal possession of 5 Indian passports, is now back in police custody.

Khan was captured in Mexico on the strength of a warrant for his arrest. He was then handed over to Corozal police by the Mexican authorities yesterday, Wednesday.

On Saturday, March 2, Khan was being held at the Orange Walk Police Station both due to a warrant for his arrest issued by the Supreme Court for money he owed in Orange Walk, and because he was a person of interest in the police’s ongoing investigation into human trafficking.

On that same Saturday, Khan was then taken to his home in Corozal, where police conducted a search. Police said that in his house they found 5 Republic of India passports belonging to Tajinder Singh, Gagandeep Singh, Parminder Singh Baryar, Gurdeep Singh and Surjit Singh.

When police questioned him about the passports, Khan said that the persons were not in Belize; however, he could not give a proper account as to why the passports were in his possession.

Khan was immediately arrested, and charges of illegal possession of 5 passports were to have been levied against him, but the charges were to be laid after Orange Walk police executed the arrest warrant on him so that he could be taken to the Supreme Court in Belize City, on Monday, March 4.

He was taken to the Orange Walk Police Station on that same Saturday, to be detained until his Supreme Court appearance in Belize City. However, he escaped about 2:00 a.m. that Monday, March 4, before he could be taken to the Supreme Court.

Khan’s picture was released and a wanted poster issued. He was later captured in Chetumal, Mexico. Belize police who carried out investigations found that he was living in Chetumal, and after working with their counterparts in Chetumal, Khan was arrested and handed over.