The world-renowned founder of McAfee Antivirus software, John McAfee, 66, a US multimillionaire, said to have been worth US$100 million at his peak but far less since the global financial meltdown, has been living peacefully in Belize for about three years—that is, until earlier this week, when McAfee reported that his estate on the outskirts of Orange Walk Town was raided by joint Belize Gang Suppression Unit (GSU), Belize Defence Force (BDF) and Belize Special Assignment Group (BSAG) team, which woke him up with a megaphone around dawn on Monday morning and held him in custody for 14 hours before releasing him without charges, at the conclusion of what police say was a search for drugs and guns.

According to McAfee, he was taken to the Queen Street Police station in Belize City and only released from custody at 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday, after US Embassy intervention. He said his lawyers are looking at his legal options, because he intends to see justice served.

Via phone from San Pedro, the resort island where McAfee also spends much of his time in Belize, he told us: “They were claiming a host of unbelievable things,” but, he added, “they found absolutely nothing irregular!”

He told us that he was handcuffed and shown a search warrant, which he was not given the opportunity to read.

At 6:00 on Monday morning, 15 Gang Suppression Unit officers, headed by Marco Vidal, arrived with 27 Belize Defence Force officers at his estate in Orange Walk, McAfee told us. He said that before his GSU encounter, he had never had a problem with the law.

A total of 12 people, including women, and a contractor and helper who were on the site, were handcuffed and not given any food, despite telling police they were hungry, McAfee told us.

“Do I look like a cook to you,” McAfee said one of the GSU officers responded.

He said he had gotten a personal weapon because the crime rate is high in Belize, and he has been threatened with both robbery and kidnapping attempts in the past. He said that he had also hired security guards for his estate through his private company.

According to McAfee, police entered his driveway Monday morning, and when he saw them approaching him, he laid down his pistol in their view.

Police used sledgehammers to pry open the doors of the buildings on the estate, he recounted.

A police source told us that McAfee and his workers were peaceable during the raid.

McAfee said that three of his workers were arrested along with him: Emerson Michael, his property manager, along with two of the grounds keepers, who police have identified as Austin Allen and Emerson Dominguez. Police charged the three men for “providing security services without a licence.”

McAfee said the workers were not released until Wednesday.

Police report via a press release we received today that they found several guns and an allegedly unauthorized antibiotics laboratory in a 13-hour operation conducted at the Belize Ecological Foundation Ltd., which began at 5:00 a.m. on Monday, April 30, 2012.

McAfee told us that he formed a security company called Belize Ecological Society, apart from other companies, including Coastal Express (for ferry service) and Sail Away Café (his coffee shop), which, he said, employ 80 workers, all Belizeans.

On the estate are nine houses, a shed, a freight container and a warehouse, all enclosed by a perimeter fence with two guard huts at the entrance, police detailed.

“Upon arrival,” said police, “the GSU announced its presence and purpose to search for drugs and illegal firearms.”

Two armed guards immediately surrendered when the police told them to do so.

“Simultaneously, the houses on the premises were cleared, one of which was serving as a laboratory,” police added.

Police said that McAfee was at the premises with his girlfriend, 17; four security guards: Michael, 33, who claimed to be the Chief of Security; Dominguez, 23; Allen, 46, and Tyron Morales, 23, all Belizeans. Also present was Michael’s common-law-wife Princesa Ericson, police added.

“During the search, ten firearms – seven 12-gauge pump action shotguns (one of which had a scope), one 12-gauge single action shotgun, one Taurus 9-mm pistol and one 9-mm CZ pistol – were found. Five air rifles with scopes, resembling sniper rifles that use 6.26 mm slugs were also found, and two hundred and seventy 12 gauge cartridges, thirty 9-mm rounds and twenty .38 rounds. All these firearms and rounds of ammunition were scattered over the premises, including inside the vehicles and houses that were unoccupied,” said the police, in the press release.

Police went on to say that McAfee produced a company firearm licence for all except the single action weapon, licensed to Tyron Morales, and the 9-mm CZ pistol with serial number A796245.

“Checks were then made with the senior officer with responsibility for firearms and explosives at Belmopan Police Headquarters, who verified that no records appeared for a firearms licence for that firearm [A796245] to McAfee,” the police added.

A “letter of approval” for the transfer of the firearm from Jenifer Erwin (particulars unknown) to McAfee was subsequently produced; however, it was signed by a senior officer who was the immediate predecessor of the officer holding the current post and was recently transferred, police added.

Erwin’s licence, said police, oddly, did not contain the gun’s serial number or brand.

“Would I be stupid enough to have a gun without a licence in a country with such severe gun laws?” McAfee questioned, when we asked him about this weapon. He said that he was going to spend time in jail on a manufactured gun charge.

Whereas police claim they’ve found 10 guns, McAfee told us that nine guns were found on his property – two are for his personal use and the other seven for his security staff.

McAfee said that police claimed to have found an unlicensed firearm, but, he told us, he does have an authentic licence for the weapon.

He said that even when police were presented with the paperwork for the guns, they refused to let them go, so he had to ask the US Embassy for help. He said that despite his status, he has never once asked a favor of the US officials.

As to the conclusion over the disputed gun, Vidal said that police have still not found any record within the Department of a licence for that weapon, but they continue to investigate.

He said McAfee’s gun charge (for the A796245) was dropped because of copies of the licence presented, which they have yet to authenticate.

McAfee also expressed surprise at the police’s probe as to why a police officer is living on his estate. McAfee said that in the other places he has lived, police security had been provided for him. With the gang and crime situation in Belize, and the state of the economy, he said, it is necessary for him to have security.

Michael, said police, is a former member of Belize Special Assignment Group (BSAG), currently before the Supreme Court on an ammunition charge.

“He [Michael] and another BDF officer were allegedly found with a quantity of ammunition taken from the stores at Price Barracks without authorization. His co-accused has absconded and [Michael] is facing trial alone,” police added.

The other major claim McAfee said police made against him was that he is running an antibiotic lab, illegally, without a licence.

“I wasn’t doing that,” he said, claiming that what he was actually making was an antiseptic, a product advertised on his website.

McAfee, the founder of McAfee Antivirus and Tribal Voice (a pioneering instant messaging platform), is listed as the president and CEO of QuorumEx, a plant-based medicinal facility which operated first out of San Ignacio and then moved to Orange Walk in Belize.

QuorumEx’s site says: “Our first product, Topic-QX, was released in the Winter of 2010,” and it goes on to identify Topic-QX as “the world’s first topical antibiotic ointment… [which] relies exclusively on a variety of plant extracts that have a 3,000-year history of effectiveness as traditional medicines for infections.”

McAfee told us that the lab was shut down about a year and a half ago when the chief researcher went back to the US. He said that he had put a coffee roaster at the location, but shut that down and turned it into a storeroom.

However, Vidal told us that what he saw when he visited the scene was no storeroom.

Vidal furthermore indicated to our newspaper that the police have taken samples of the product found at McAfee’s lab for testing. He confirmed that the product they found was the same one listed on his website—Topic-QX. The label on the bottle says it is an antibiotic, said Vidal, adding that tests are being conducted by the Forensic Department in conjunction with the Ministry of Health.

Police said that “the Ministry of Health has already confirmed that no licence has been granted to McAfee or any of his agents to manufacture antibiotics in Belize.”

They added that conducting such operations without a licence is an offence under the Antibiotics Act.

Director of Health Services Dr. Michael Pitts told our newspaper that they were surprised to learn of McAfee’s operations when the GSU visited his estate Monday. The Chief Pharmacist in Belize also did not know of the operations, said Pitts.

He confirmed that a licence is required for the manufacturing of antibiotics in Belize. We told him that McAfee’s defense is that it’s not an antibiotic, but an antiseptic. Pitts said that’s really a matter of technicality, but underscored that the label does say the substance is an antibiotic, although they will await the results of confirmatory testing from the Belize Forensic team to establish the contents.

“A decision as to whether or not charges will be laid will be taken by the Ministry within the next few days, when the report of the Forensic Analyst becomes available,” the police have said.

Police also reported that McAfee had $19,650 in cash in his bedroom, which was counted and secured by him.

None of the persons present at the time of the raid were hurt, but McAfee has reported that police shot and killed one of his dogs. Police, for their part, said that during the operation, three of eleven dogs on the premises attacked, and one bit a GSU officer on his right leg.

“The same dog proceeded to attack a BDF soldier, who responded and fatally wounded the dog,” said police.

Police said, “Two months ago, a special police team attempted to conduct a similar search on McAfee’s premises but was prevented from doing so.”

They added: “The search at McAfee’s premises was based solely on information received regarding illegal activities being conducted there.”

McAfee has told local media that he believes he was targeted because he refused to make a political donation to a leading United Democratic Party politician in Orange Walk. He insists that he does not pump his money into politics; however, he is on record as having donated to several causes, including the Belize Coast Guard, to which he has donated a million-dollar, 30-passenger boat back in 2009. McAfee had said that he donated the boat in gratitude for having just received his permanent residency in Belize.