Photo: Sabino Osorio, allegedly assaulted by a Customs officer

by Charles Gladden

ORANGE WALK, Wed. June 28, 2023

A resident of Santa Cruz Village, Orange Walk District, is claiming that he was assaulted over the weekend for no apparent reason by a Customs officer. The resident said the incident occurred during a night of socializing and occurred in the presence of his wife and toddler daughter.

Sabino Osorio, 35, is claiming that on Saturday night, June 24, while driving on Cinderella Street, in the heart of town, he saw some activity taking place near a group of parked vehicles and pulled over to see what was happening.

According to Osorio, shortly after a Customs officer attached to the Orange Walk Customs Department approached him and punched him approximately three times in the face, hitting him directly in his left eye.

When Osorio spoke to the local media in Spanish, which was translated to English, he said that the reason he got out of his vehicle was to see if an accident had occurred and to render aid.

“Upon getting there, I put my signal and saw that there was a bus parked. There was also another vehicle beside it and the Customs vehicle that was directly behind that vehicle. So, I put my signal and parked on the side, which was when the Customs officer, whom I believed had intercepted a cargo truck, I didn’t really notice what it was, but when he saw me he got close to me and started insulting me. And I told him, ‘Officer, why are you insulting me? What is the reason? I am not disrespecting you nor do I know what is going on.’ He just hit me three times in the eye. My daughter and wife were both in the car, so I don’t know what was his reason for him hitting me in that way,” he said.

Osorio noted that, following the assault, he went to file a complaint at the police station, but on his way he saw the Customs officer tailing behind. According to Osorio, when they got there, the Customs officer acknowledged that he harmed Osorio in front of police officers and that he was intoxicated, and his reason for hitting him was that he was obstructing them from doing their job.

But Osorio claimed otherwise. He explained, “He said he punched [me] three times because [I] was obstructing him from doing his job. I then asked him, ‘do you have any evidence of that? Because I did not even get in your way because I didn’t even know what was going on.’ Again, I explained, I just got close because I thought there was an accident and someone might have needed help.”

According to Osorio, however, the police officers present refused to take a statement from the customs officer.

“I want to see something be done about this incident. I don’t like it because now I can’t eat well, I could barely breathe and I have a family to support,” Osorio said.

Sources from the Belize Customs Department have told Amandala that an investigation is being conducted to determine what transpired and that actions will be taken against the customs officer.