Former Lands Commissioner Detained

Wilbert Vallejos

He sat in the seat of power in the so-called hotbed of corruption for ten years, as the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys, but tonight Wilbert Vallejos finds himself in the proverbial hot seat. That’s because heavily armed members of the Mobile Interdiction Team descended on Vallejos’ residence in Patchakan Village, Corozal District earlier today. News Five learned that Vallejos and his brother were arrested by the officers and taken to the Corozal Police Station pending further instructions. Inside the house, the team found tens of thousands of dollars and the assistance of the Financial Intelligence Unit was subsequently requested. Officers reportedly found sixty-nine thousand, eight hundred Belize dollars in cash. They also found ten thousand pesos and three thousand, one hundred and seventy U.S. dollars.  The search concluded at around four-thirty this evening. We are told that officers are waiting on the Financial Intelligence Unit to proceed with charges should Vallejos be unable to provide proof of how he legitimately came by the sum of undeclared monies. Vallejos resigned from the post of Commissioner of Lands and Surveys on Thursday after serving ten years.  He served under three U.D.P. ministers, Gaspar Vega, Doctor Carla Barnett, and Hugo Patt.  We are told that Talbert Brackett is the new Commissioner of Lands and Surveys.