CHETUMAL, Mexico, Thurs. Jan. 26, 2017–Video footage gone viral captured Belizean Custom officers and a group of Mexican men in a heated confrontation on the bridge at the Mexico-Belize border.

The confrontation occurred on the Subtineiente Lopez Bridge and caused a pause in the flow of traffic from around 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

A senior Customs officer spoke to our newspaper this evening and informed us that they had received intelligence that the Mexican men who later became involved in the confrontation had loaded several bundles of merchandise on the Belize side of the bridge to avoid Mexican authorities.

However, the items were scattered over the Belize side of the bridge in plain view.

According to that officer, this practice has been occurring for a while, but for the last 2-3 weeks, Mexican nationals from the Los Pelones drug gang in Chiapas had been smuggling goods from the Belize Free Zone into Mexico.

He told us that his officers had to take action because if they didn’t, these men would have established their operations there and it would have been difficult to remove them after a period of time.

The officer told us that he and his men went and ordered the men to move the goods and that was when a confrontation ensued.

The video footage showed that one of the Mexican men shoved a Belizean officer in the chest and threw a punch at him, which missed.

The Belizean officers remained composed as they faced hostile men who blasted them with obscenities for the entire 2-minute duration of the footage gone viral.

“You on my side, b****… You on my side p***,” one Mexican is heard telling the officers.

A Belizean police officer was injured when he was struck in the head with a glass bottle by one of the Mexican nationals who surrounded the Belizean officials.

According to our sources, that was when a Belizean Customs officer unbuckled the holster of his licensed firearm.

According to further information received, Mexican officials and Marines came over and that was when the tension decreased and Belizean authorities locked off access to the bridge from the Free Zone.

We are told that the officer who put his hand on his weapon may, from all indications, be reprimanded, because, it is claimed, there are some corrupt, politically connected persons in Corozal who are reportedly collaborating with the Mexican hustlers.

Sources close to our newspaper have indicated that four Mexican nationals have been arrested by Mexican authorities in connection with this clash on the bridge.