On Saturday night at about 8:00 o’clock at the northern border, a Customs officer confiscated some beer from four men who were trying to cross the Corozal border with the undeclared goods. A senior officer who responded to a call for assistance was assaulted.
Police say that four men – Ignacio Victorin, 30, a Belizean security officer; Nolberto Victorin, 34, a Belizean laborer; Amador Tzib, 40, a Belizean laborer; and Rutilio Cantun, 38, a Belizean laborer, all of Patchakan, Corozal District, were charged with aggravated assault.
Police reports are that senior customs officer Fred Ford, attached to the Santa Elena Border, Corozal District, reported that about 8:20 p.m. on Saturday, he was on duty in his office when the checkpoint customs officer, Zakir Marin, who was working at the time, called him on his cell phone and told him that he had a “situation” at the checkpoint arrival section.
Ford reported that he came out of the building to see what was happening and saw a blue car parked at the checkpoint with its four doors open, and that Marin was surrounded by four men of Hispanic descent, who were shouting at him and had him accosted against the checkpoint wall.
Ford reported that he approached them and asked them to excuse themselves from the checkpoint and leave the area, as they appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
However, one of the men pushed him in his chest, Ford said, and asked him how much money they would have to pay him so that he could return the confiscated beer.
Ford said that the men argued that they wanted back the beer that Marin confiscated from them, and suddenly, the same man that had shoved him in the chest kicked him in the back, causing him to drop onto the concrete floor beside the checkpoint column.
As a result, Ford suffered injuries to his left knee, left foot and his left elbow. Ford reported that two Immigration officers who saw what happened came to their assistance, and they were able to hold the four men and put them in a detention cell at the northern border.
The attackers were later handed over to Corozal police, who took them to the Corozal Police Station, where they were charged.