Reliable information to Amandala today is that a police officer attached to the Special Branch attempted to deposit $1,600 in counterfeit US currency at the Belize Bank in sixteen $100 notes.
Remarkably, he has not been arrested, or his home searched, as has been the practice when a person is caught with counterfeit currency, and police have refused to say why.
And because he has not been charged, his name cannot be released.
We understand at around 10 a.m. yesterday, the officer, a sergeant, went to the Northside Belize Bank Branch on Coney Drive. The bank personnel, who discovered that one of the $100 notes was counterfeit, called the police.
CIB responded on the scene and they confiscated his deposit slip, his identification card and the money; police also say that they've detained him and that statements have been taken in connection with the money.
Late this evening, we attempted to contact Police Minister Doug Singh and Police Press Officer Sergeant Fitzroy Yearwood about the matter.
Singh is in Guatemala in connection with the massacre of civilians in that country, close to our borders, but Yearwood was not available for comment as to why was there a departure from normal police procedure, in relation to this officer's detention and subsequent searching of his home.
And while police appear quick to protect one of their own, another citizen was not so lucky. In a press release sent today, Thursday, police say that at about 2:00 p.m. today, they arrested a man while on mobile patrol on West Collet Canal, conducted a search on him and discovered "a transparent plastic bag with two amounts of $100 US notes that appear not to be genuine. A search of the house and the premises yielded nothing illegal."
Police released the man's name, picture and address, and said that he was "formally arrested and charged.
Amandala