Move over pseudoephedrine; Rosewood now the hottest commodity
Move over pseudoephedrine, rosewood is now the hottest commodity. There were three busts of rosewood made today which signals that its illegal exportation is a brazen, lucrative and well organized scheme. Late this evening, two containers stored at Belize Engineering Limited adjacent to the Customs Compound on Caesar Ridge Road were opened at the request of the Forestry Department. An inspection by Police, Customs and Forestry officials led to the discovery of tons of rosewood reportedly belonging to Kambo King Enterprise. Information is sketchy, but it is also known that requests were made in November and December for the containers to be released for export. We also know that the contents of the containers were not declared. Tonight, the containers are being transported with Police escort to the Forestry Department in Belmopan for further investigation
Turning to the third bust, that container is sitting at the western border and the Ministry of Forestry says it is investigating its origin and legitimacy. The rosewood was confiscated when it was being transported into Belize at the western border on Wednesday. According to the Ministry, it is in a forty foot container weighing in at a whopping twenty-eight tons of flitches. If you do the math, calculated at two hundred and twenty board feet per ton at twelve dollars per board feet, the value of the rosewood is in the range of seventy-five thousand dollars. Now, here is what we have further learnt: the container carried Guatemalan registration but the vehicle transporting it has Belizean license plates. The markings on the flitches are eerily similar to those on the rosewood that was confiscated from one Hilmar Alamilla and set on fire by the Ministry of Forestry in Golden Stream on January eleventh.� The export documents also undervalue the cargo at twenty-thousand dollars. There are a lot of unanswered questions such as who owns the vehicle and who is the shipment consigned to locally. We also asked the Ministry if it is ruling out the possibility that the rosewood was simply re-routed into Belize and that it did not in fact originate from Guatemala but simply taken to the border to throw off its origins? Chief Forest Officer, Wilbur Sabido explains.
Via Phone: Wilbur Sabido, Chief Forest Officer
"It was the Customs Department that informed us and let us know that according to the documentation that was provided, rosewood was being declared as being in the container. That particular container is presently being held up at the Benque Border and we, as the Forest Management entity, are coordinating with the national authorities in Guatemala to confirm the origin of the material and also whether or not it is a shipment that was authorized to be exported by the forestry authority in Guatemala."
Duane Moody
"I'm understanding that Guatemala currently has a moratorium on rosewood as well. So this shipment would be illegal regardless of whether it is coming from Belize or Guatemala."
Wilbur Sabido
Via Phone:�Wilbur Sabido
"Yes that is correct but in order for us to ensure that we do our due diligence, we do need to get confirmation from Guatemala first before we move to do anything in terms of pursuing legal action against the person or company that was bringing in material."
Duane Moody
"The markings on these flitches look extremely similar to the ones that were burnt by the minister. Are these rosewood pieces of Belizean origin; suspected Belizean origin?"
Via Phone: Wilbur Sabido
"I wouldn't really dare to presume that just yet Duane because we have simply opened the container; we haven't really offloaded any of the material just yet. But that is one of the suspicions that we have. We want to, beyond our own reasonable doubt, to confirm with the Guatemalan authorities that that is the case; that it is an illegal shipment. And so we need to get to the bottom of how it ended up at the border. If it is coming through Guatemala, having passed through that particular country's border authorities. And so we also want to raise that point with the Guatemalan authorities and it takes time."
Duane Moody
"Since the moratorium came out last year; that it is possible that these illegal loggers are maybe rerouting the shipment of these rosewood. Is it possible that maybe that is the case here?"
Via Phone: Wilbur Sabido
"That is possible Duane. It is also possible that the material is being shipped under different description."
Duane Moody
"We were reliably informed that when it comes to this particular case; that this is the first time that there is actually a transshipment of the precious wood through Belize. This has never happened before."
Via Phone: Wilbur Sabido
"That is correct; that is correct. This is the first time that we are intercepting a container coming through our western border into Belize-for it to be in transit from Belize into a final destination which I would assume would be china. This is a first time."
Duane Moody
"Since it is being transshipped through Belize, wouldn't there be an agent that is responsible for it that is from Belize?"
Via Phone: Wilbur Sabido
"Yeah, I believe that that would be the case-either a broker, an agent or importer/exporter. And that is part of what we are trying to find out through customs. We don't necessarily deal at that particular level in terms of getting that kind of information. So we are investigating the agent, as you call it, the broker, importer/exporter and we want to get to the bottom of this particular container."
Third batch of rosewood confiscated in 24 hours
There is yet another bust that took place on Tuesday in the Independence area. It happened at farm twelve near the village of San Pablo which is located about fifteen miles from the Swasey Bridge. Forestry and BDF personnel conducted an operation over the past weekend and found the illegal cargo last Sunday evening. The MO is that the rosewood is transported to the farm and then shipped out at night. The patrol found clear signs of destructions of the forest left behind in the movement of the rosewood.
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Via Phone: Wilbur Sabido
"We did receive last week Saturday that there was material in the Independence Area as an area referred to us as Farm twelve. Along with police we went, we checked to see if that was indeed the case and we found a tractor and trailer with rosewood material in it. We didn't find anybody in the area so we transported the tractor and trailer to the Mango Creek Police Station where it is at. At this point we are waiting for the owners to declare themselves so that we can start building a case in terms of asking the relevant questions of how it is that the material ended up on the trailer and why the tractor was in the area; those sort of things. But at this point, we only have the equipment and the material.� I wouldn't know who is doing the illegal harvesting. In terms of legal harvesting, we do have the Maya Mountain North presently under management by the company, but they are there as a recognized entity by us. But the material wasn't found in that area, it was found a distance away. So in effect it is an illegal act."
This particular bust yielded over forty flitches of rosewood. So, in the past five days there have been five busts of rosewood but the most dramatic and largest was on January ninth, when the minister of forestry in frustration set the confiscated flitches ablaze.
Channel 5