$250,000 taken in Belmopan heist
Belmopan police are investigating the biggest bank heist in the city’s history following a reported hold-up Friday night. But as Patrick Jones found out today, among those being questioned are two KBH security guards who were making a nighttime deposit.
Patrick Jones, Reports
?The two security guards had come here to First Caribbean International Bank to make a deposit on behalf of three institutions, the Belize Social Security Board, Development Finance Corporation and B.T.L. But they never made it out of the parking lot as police say the KBH employees were held up and they came out of their vehicle.?
Sergeant Sinquest Martinez, Investigator
?As the vehicle stopped to deposit the bag, they were suddenly attacked by two masked men. And they went with the bag. Three people were in the cab of the vehicle and the two security officers were in the pan of the truck. And as they were about to put in the bag in the deposit, this is when they were attacked.?
Patrick Jones
?Were these masked men armed??
Sergeant Sinquest Martinez
?Yes they were definitely armed. Two were armed with nine millimetre pistols due to the fact that we found a loaded nine millimetre magazine with ten rounds in the magazine.?
The robbery netted thieves over a quarter of a million dollars in cash and cheques, in what appears to be Belmopan?s biggest armed robbery. Lead investigator, Detective Sergeant Sinquest Martinez says five people, including the two KBH security guards and a messenger for First Caribbean Bank, have been detained for questioning. Martinez says the way the robbery went down has sent up a number of red flags.
Sergeant Sinquest Martinez
?It is a very strange one. And we are looking both internally of the company and other places and we are looking outside because of the way it was done. It was done so neat, no one got hurt. So we are looking at all aspects.?
?No shots were fired. The robbers didn?t fire any shots, nor the security officers didn?t fire any shots.?
Patrick Jones
?Is that why it looks suspicious to you??
Sergeant Sinquest Martinez
?Well, it?s something questionable that we are looking on right now. It?s very questionable that we are looking at that too.?
Police are being tight lipped about the exact amount of money taken in the robbery, but News Five understands that the DFC deposit was in the vicinity of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash and cheques. Director of Finance for Social Security Rolando Zetina says their deposit bag contained very little cash.
Rolando Zetina, Director of Finance, Social Security
?It was a total of eighteen thousand, five hundred and ninety dollars. But out of that, three thousand, one hundred and thirty-one dollars was cash, the rest was in cheques.?
Patrick Jones
?Now that money, is that contributions from people??
Rolando Zetina
?Yes, contributions and maybe one or two mortgage payments.?
Although there were mortgage payments included in the stolen deposit, Zetina says Social Security has been assured that it will not be left holding an empty bag.
Rolando Zetina
?The security service has insurance and they have notified us that they will be claiming from the insurance. So the money is safe. Social Security will not lose that money.?
While that?s the good news, Zetina says KBH?s handling of their deposit on Friday is questionable.
Rolando Zetina
?Well we were questioning the time difference between when the deposit was picked up and when the robbery occurred. Because there was a time lapse there that we were concerned about.?
Martinez says there are people who may have witnessed the crime but are afraid to come forward. He is encouraging them to use the 922 service, which has already been helpful in the case, to help the police to intercept the stolen money.
Sergeant Sinquest Martinez, Investigator
?Hell yes, there are people that saw what happened. But some of them are fearing for their lives. We have interviewed several people and they are helping us.?
Patrick Jones
?Now those people who have seen and may be afraid, would your 922 service help??
Sergeant Sinquest Martinez, Investigator
?Definitely, that will definitely help. Because the way we found the bag for Mrs. Polonio, it was a 922 call, and we just respond to it and we retrieved the bag and with all her personal documents and her cell phone and a small amount of cash was in there.?
The police are looking at several scenarios, and while they have detained five people, none of the stolen money has so far been recovered. While only about sixty thousand dollars is actual cash, police say they have advised the three institutions to contact their clients who paid in cheques to authorize a stop order, in which case, the robbers will be left holding a bundle of useless paper. Patrick Jones, for News 5.
News 5 has attempted to contact KBH for comment, but our calls were not returned.
