Two suspects arrested in Hummingbird holdup
Having reached rock bottom with the disastrous failure to intercept a band of foreign murderers and prevent them from leaving the country, the roller coaster known as police public relations took a turn upward today as authorities announced a major break in the case that stands as perhaps the most brazen crime ever committed on Belizean soil. Patrick Jones reports from a hastily called press conference at the Radisson.
Ornel Brooks, Commissioner of Police
“I would like to state here that we are very aware that the people we are dealing with are people who are skilled in the use of firearms. A number of them are ex-military, as well as ex- guerrillas.”
In short, they claim to know the nature of the beast they are up against. Commissioner of Police Ornel Brooks, says two Guatemalan nationals: Eluterio Vasquez and Alfonso Teul have been arrested on charges stemming from the May second guerilla style hold up of several hundred people along the Hummingbird Highway. Brooks says the arrests are the result of diligent police work to flush out illegal immigrants and those persons who fit a criminal profile.
Ornel Brooks
“We were able to from a photographic identification album. Were able to identify five people. Of that five, we have arrested two of them who were in Belize and both of them were arrested in the Stann Creek District. The other three as far as we know are in Guatemala.”
Brooks says that based on intelligence gathered, Teul and Vasquez are known associates who have been involved in robberies that stretch from Stann Creek to Orange Walk and that the two men also have close connection with criminals in Guatemala. Minister of National Security Dean Barrow says the attack on innocent citizens could have been a form of retaliation by persons declared persona non grata and expelled from the country.
Dean Barrow, Minister of National Security
“The initial instincts of the police proved to be spot on proved to be unerring. I recollect that as I was leaving that press conference, Mr. Uk who is the head of our Special Branch, gave me his assurance that we would get these people and he ventured his opinion that some of the very actors, some of the very persons we told you we have been looking at, who had been flushed out by the operation that took place in that area, two or three weeks previous to the incident. Mr. Uk told me he was certain that some of those same persons were involved possibly as a form of retaliation and it has turned out as the Commissioner will tell you that this is exactly so.”
But while the police have made a major breakthrough in this high profile case, it may not be all smooth sailing. Brooks says that while police intelligence is at an all time high, the hard evidence to take to court is another matter and is appealing to those who were held up to come forward to give testimony.
Dean Barrow
“The police are entirely satisfied that the two persons in custody were part of the robbery because I know there is likely to be a modicum of doubt, of skepticism. People will know that we are anxious to show results and might want to feel that perhaps we are so anxious that we would go to the extent of manufacturing results. So I am glad that you asked the question, and I think I should add the detail that they have been identified not just by one person – remember that as I said one of these persons had his mask fall during the actual robbery so he was seen by a number of victims.”
Brooks says that the other three suspects, one of who is the ringleader, have jumped the border into Guatemala. Getting them back to face trail will be a difficult task as there is no extradition treaty between Belize and Guatemala.
As to the cache of jewelry and cash confiscated in last Sunday’s predawn raid of communities around Belmopan, Brooks says that none of them have been identified so far by people who have gone to see them. But the Commissioner says he’s not ready to release them just yet.
Ornel Brooks
“Besides the robbery itself that occurred on the Hummingbird Highway, there is some strong suspicion that items among those jewelry could have been proceeds from other robberies or burglaries.”
So we may not have seen the last of protests at police headquarters. Patrick Jones, for News Five.
