Armed bandits steal taxi then hold up city store

A Belize City taxidriver is without his car tonight after armed bandits held him up on Monday night. According to police, around 9:00 p.m. on Monday, taxidriver Eston Young was driving on Vernon Street when two men flagged him down and asked to be taken to an address near Gwen Lizarraga High School. One man sat beside Young in the front seat while the other sat in the back. But on the way there, the backseat passenger put a gun to Young’s head while the other searched him for money. They took Young’s driver’s license and approximately a hundred and eighty dollars in cash. Young waited for the right moment and managed to jump out of the car. The thieves decided not to follow him and drove away in the taxi. Using the stolen car as the getaway vehicle, the armed robbers then decided to hit a store on Mahogany Street extension. According to shopkeeper Dawn Augustine, the men showed up at her store with warm caps on their heads, brandishing a sawed off shotgun and demanding money. The frightened storekeeper handed over three hundred dollars and the men took off in the stolen cab. The getaway car, a brown Ford Escort, has yet to be recovered. At news time tonight, no one had been detained for questioning.