Cayo robbers escape after shootout

An armed robbery near Benque Viejo has resulted in a shootout with police. Around eight Tuesday night police responded to a report of a robbery in progress at the Casa Maya Resort near mile sixty-eight on the Western Highway. The proprietor reports that he was held up by two masked men, one holding a shotgun and the other a handgun. They took over two hundred dollars in cash and as they were leaving the proprietor’s wife drove up. The bandits commandeered her green Volkswagon and headed west, turning onto the Arenal Road. By that time police were in hot pursuit but when they began to close in, the gunmen opened fire. When the cops shot back, the robbers abandoned the vehicle and escaped on foot into the bush. Although it would normally be assumed that the culprits are Guatemalans who fled across the border, police tell News 5 that scenario is not necessarily the one they are pursuing. Two suspects, who may be Belizeans, are being sought for questioning.