Signed up for an account as I wish I had googled this before I left too.
I had a similar experience. I flew into Belize Thursday, December 8th 2016 and had my drone/backpack seized during customs. The person who seized it was very friendly and said due to a "technicality" You must have a permit to operate this drone in Belize. He filled out a tiny slip of paper with my name and description of my drone (Phantom 3) He taped the carbon copy of it to the case and took it to the back room. Easy Peasy.
But the Custom Deceleration guy was FURIOUS! I didn't declare my drone, (I didn't think I needed to as I wasn't leaving it in the country) I didn't declare my laptop either. He said it was a $2000 fine for failure to declare... So I left it at that.
Sunday (Dec 12th) I went back to customs and gave them my slip as I was headed back to the USA. The guy that seized it was there and went to the little backroom and 10 seconds later came out with my drone. He had me inspect it, then handed it to a security guy who accompanied me until I was ready to board my plane. He was really nice as well. After I had my drone back, I was able to laugh about the situation, but for most of the trip, I thought it would get "lost"
One of the missionaries (US Citizen) at the location where we stayed had a drone and told us it was EXPENSIVE. He had the phantom 3 and after purchasing it, had to pay an additional $400 in Duty. He also said that he couldn't get a permit to fly it as well and had to have someone native get the permit. They also had to give GPS coordinates of the locations where it would be operating.
I had a similar experience. I flew into Belize Thursday, December 8th 2016 and had my drone/backpack seized during customs. The person who seized it was very friendly and said due to a "technicality" You must have a permit to operate this drone in Belize. He filled out a tiny slip of paper with my name and description of my drone (Phantom 3) He taped the carbon copy of it to the case and took it to the back room. Easy Peasy.
But the Custom Deceleration guy was FURIOUS! I didn't declare my drone, (I didn't think I needed to as I wasn't leaving it in the country) I didn't declare my laptop either. He said it was a $2000 fine for failure to declare... So I left it at that.
Sunday (Dec 12th) I went back to customs and gave them my slip as I was headed back to the USA. The guy that seized it was there and went to the little backroom and 10 seconds later came out with my drone. He had me inspect it, then handed it to a security guy who accompanied me until I was ready to board my plane. He was really nice as well. After I had my drone back, I was able to laugh about the situation, but for most of the trip, I thought it would get "lost"
One of the missionaries (US Citizen) at the location where we stayed had a drone and told us it was EXPENSIVE. He had the phantom 3 and after purchasing it, had to pay an additional $400 in Duty. He also said that he couldn't get a permit to fly it as well and had to have someone native get the permit. They also had to give GPS coordinates of the locations where it would be operating.