by Charles Gladden
ORANGE WALK, Fri. June 30, 2023
The immigration charges against 9 employees and 2 employers of Caribbean International Brewery (CIB), the brewers of “Mine Beer”, were dropped when all parties appeared at the Orange Walk Magistrate Court on Friday, June 30.
In October of last year the company’s factory in Carmelita Village, Orange Walk District was raided by personnel from the Police and Immigration Departments and members of the Anti-Trafficking of Persons Unit, who carried out a two-day operation with the support of a search warrant for illegal labor at the facility.
That raid led to the discovery of $3.1 million in cash, along with some US denominations which were found inside two safes at the company’s location.
During the raid, the status of some Chinese nationals was questioned by officers. At the time, allegations rose against CIB, that the company had been withholding the passports of Chinese nationals. The company’s bosses countered that the workers found themselves stuck in the country at the time of the Covid-19 traveling restrictions in China, and were reportedly scheduled to leave the country on October 11, a couple of days after the raid occurred.
“They had gone there in regards to information which turned up to be false, that human trafficking was being carried out there,” said Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney of CIB.
Bradley went on to tell Amandala that all the employees of the company had arrived in the country with proper documentation in different periods within two years before the raid.
The trial started a week before the ruling and lasted for several days, before Magistrate Deborah Rogers. A no-case submission was made by Bradley, who pointed out that there was no evidence provided that could convict the accused persons.
Thus, the 9 Chinese employees were freed from their initial charge of working without a work permit, and the 2 employers, who were charged for employing said persons knowing that they were not legally allowed to work in the country, also had their charges dropped.