BELIZE CITY, Wed. Feb. 10, 2021– Fishermen are becoming increasingly fearful as a result of a number of incidents of piracy that have been occurring out at sea. Multiple armed robberies have affected those trying to make a living through fishing, and the most recent incident, which took place on Tuesday, involved robbery at gunpoint. The targeted group of fishermen had spent days out in the blue, and upon their way home, they were relieved of their catch, their cellphones and their boat engines.
It is believed that the crimes are being committed by perpetrators in the southern part of the country. Acting Commandant of the Coast Guard, Commander Gregory Soberanis, addressed the matter during a press conference held on Tuesday afternoon. Soberanis explained that in the past three weeks, three separate incidents of piracy have occurred. He explained that the Coast Guard, the Fisheries Department and the Police Department have been engaged in a joint investigation of the incidents.
“Over the past three weeks we’ve had three incidents that have occurred. The first one occurred about three to four weeks ago. The incident was reported to us and we responded with an aggressive deployment of patrols for the area. It was a coordinated approach – interagency approach. We’ve been working with the Fisheries Department, with the police down in Dangriga, the Regional Commander for that area, Mr. Arzu, as well as the Officer commanding for Dangriga itself, Mr. Jones. We’ve collaborated our efforts, as it relates to the first incidents. We’ve been able to locate nine individuals who we believe to have been involved with that particular incident. They were all detained and handed over to the police in Dangriga. We were able to seize four assets where they were charged for various court violations,” Commander Soberanis stated.
He then provided details about the other two incidents: “The second incident occurred as recent as Saturday. Again, along with Fisheries we were able to respond to that scene and we escorted the fishermen back to Belize City, where we were able to conduct interviews with them to get an idea of what transpired out at sea. The most recent incident occurred this morning. The perpetrators were bold enough to do it approximately just around 6:15 thereabout this morning. We’re currently collaborating our efforts again with the police as well as again our partner, the Fisheries Department, and we’re looking at locating the individuals we believed to have committed this particular crime,” he said.
Soberanis and the Coast Guard believe that the robberies are occurring due to the impending close of the lobster season. The fishermen are being seen as “soft targets” and need to frequently be transporting their products to city for sale. Nonetheless, Soberanis has issued an assurance to all fisherfolk that the Coast Guard will “stop at nothing” to reduce the crimes which have been occurring mainly in the south near Dangriga and Placencia.
Fines have been brought against those persons who were detained during the investigation for court violations, such as not having the required equipment and documents to engage in a fishing operation. These persons are also being investigated in connection with the other recent robberies that have occurred.