_{Photo: Official ribbon cutting for HIT}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Jan. 13, 2025

The Belize Police Department (BPD), under the umbrella of the Ministry of Home Affairs, officially launched the newly formed Highway Interdiction Team (HIT) on Monday, January 13, at the National Training Academy in Belmopan.

The newly formed HIT team will be deployed to strengthen law enforcement efforts on Belize’s highways nationwide, with the primary objective of combating a wide range of unlawful acts such as drug trafficking, human smuggling, human trafficking, and the illegal trafficking of firearms and ammunition.

“Your presence on the highway is going to serve as a deterrent to those traffickers; and in situations where they do take the risk, your presence is going to increase the likelihood of us catching those individuals,” said Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, at the ceremony to launch the unit.

He further stated, “Secondary to the functions, as I have mentioned earlier, is the road safety issue as it relates to ensuring that users of our highways comply with road safety regulations. So, the team will be issued ticket books, so they’ll be able to issue traffic violations, and tickets. When conducting checkpoints, they will look for traffic violations and issue tickets. In those instances where the violation is arrestable, then they’ll be arresting people as well.”

During his remarks, ComPol Williams highlighted that Belize’s roadways are frequently used by persons to conduct their illegal operations. 

“These smugglers utilize our highways to transport their clients from point A to point B. We must ensure that we have a system in place that is going to deter these traffickers from utilizing our highways to perpetrate human smuggling or trafficking… We can also look at firearms and ammunition trafficking – firearms entering the country through our porous borders, particularly in the Arenal area. Again, I expect that your presence will serve as a deterrent to these activities,” he said.

Minister of Home Affairs, Hon. Kareem Musa told reporters that the newly formed HIT team will be heavily active in the northern and southern parts of the country.

“Over the last two years, the northern operations have become a permanent feature annually in our budget, where we seek additional funds and resources. So, it is expected that along the northern border, we will see a lot of the Highway Interdiction Team. In the south where we have a lot of plane landings – it is a very remote area in Dolores where we have most of the plane landings — hopefully, we can get our forward operating base established,” he said.

Fourteen members will be in the initial HIT team, and they will be split into three groups that will be operating in different parts of the country, with the department possibly forming an additional team at the end of the first half of the year.