Five men arrested for undersized lobster tails, one takes the charge: Claimed he did not know they were undersized

By Breaking Belize News Staff: Five men were arrested and charged this week for being in possession of undersized lobster tails, but only one will have to pay the fine of almost $3,000.

On Thursday, Santa Familia resident, 39-year-old Elvin Quewel, asked the Belize City Magistrate’s Court if he could give an explanation before entering his plea, but was told he had to make the plea first. He pleaded guilty to the charge and then explained that he and his co-accused were coming home from doing some construction work in San Pedro, and bought the tails from an island resident.

Quewel said that if he had known the tails were undersized he never would have purchased them. With his guilty plea, the prosecution withdrew the charges from the other four accused.

He was fined $1,500 plus a $5.00 cost of court which he has until February 28, 2023, to pay, or he will face three months in prison. He was also fined $50 per lobster tail which amounted to $1,400 for a total fine of $2,910. If he fails to pay the fine for the lobster tails, the court will sell off his assets to cover the cost in a procedure called distress.

Police say that the men were searched at the Queen Street Police Station on Sunday, October 23, when they were found with 28 lobster tails weighing less than four ounces.

Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Belize ~ We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages. Your content is delivered instantly to thousands of users in Belize and abroad! Contact us at mаrkеtіng@brеаkіngbеlіzеnеwѕ.соm or call us at 501-612-0315.

© 2022, BreakingBelizeNews.com. Content is copyrighted and requires written permission for reprinting in online or print media. Theft of content without permission/payment is punishable by law.