Nearly 6 Years Later, Businessman Convicted of Human Trafficking

A man was convicted in the Dangriga High Court today on four counts of trafficking in persons following a long-running case linked to allegations of exploitation involving multiple women.

Jin Zhou Wu was found guilty of two counts of trafficking for labour and two counts of trafficking for sexual exploitation. 

Wu’s conviction comes nearly six years after police first arrested him in 2020, following complaints from three Honduran women. The women told investigators that in June 2019, they were lured into Belize with promises of waitressing jobs, only to have their travel documents seized and be forced into prostitution at Wu’s Sky Blue Bar in Bella Vista Village, Toledo.

At that time, the Belize Police Department explained that officers had been investigating Wu since mid‑2018, after receiving information that he was exploiting women at his business. The victims, aged 20 and 21, said they were recruited by a woman who later brought them illegally into Belize. Once in Wu’s care, their cell phones were taken away, and they were compelled to work against their will.

Wu was first arraigned in October 2020 and remanded to the Belize Central Prison before later being granted bail in the sum of $15,000.

He has now been remanded once again and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26.

Wu was represented by attorney Emerita Anderson, while the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Cheryl Lynn Vidal appeared on behalf of the Crown.