Police say full investigations into murder of Lebanese businessmen
Elodio Aragon Jr.
The ruthless executions of businessmen Abdul Aziz Mohammed Dib and Alfred Schakron in Belize City on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning have rocked the Lebanese community across the country. Both men were victims of what appear to be carefully orchestrated hits. Forty year old Abdul Dib was shot multiple times inside King Kabab Restaurant whilst seated with three other men having coffee. A lone gunman entered the premises and unloaded a barrage of bullets into the auto dealer, killing him instantly. Less than twenty-four hours later, as popular businessman Alfred Schakron was leaving Body 2000 Gym, he was accosted by a group of men inside a sports utility vehicle. During a brief scuffle in front of the building several shots were fired, mortally injuring Schakron. To date there have been no arrests in either cases. While the Police Department is exploring a possible connection between the two murders, additional officers will be deployed in the Old Capital this weekend in an attempt to thwart further reprisals. According to Assistant Commissioner of Police Elodio Aragon Jr., a full investigation, involving all major task forces within the Belize Police Department has been launched.
Elodio Aragon Jr., Assistant Commissioner of Police
“We have people from our Crime Investigation Branch, people from CIU and other personnel are involved in this investigation and as time proceeds, we are hoping that we will receive the kind of leads and the investigation will bring about the kind of information and intelligence that we need to begin to deal with this case professionally.”
Jules Vasquez, 7News
“Sir, are you concerned about further retaliations? Not to speak ill of the dead, but we know that Mister Schakron had relatives who are Belizeans and they certainly have their own network of affiliates in Belize. Are you concerned that there may be further retaliation or retaliation I should say?”
Elodio Aragon Jr.
“At this time it is hard for us to tell you definitely that if that will be a case or not because the investigation is still ongoing—we still need to get to the bottom of these things; to look at motives, etc. All I could tell you at this point in time, the police department will be mounting special operations over the weekend to ensure that we keep the level of crime as best as we could down. I could tell you that these two incidents, with the Lebanese, these are not incidents that occur every day. We do not see it as incidents that will be predominantly seen every week on the news. As far as we know these are not normal and therefore the investigation continues to see what it is all about.”
Patrick Jones, Love News
“Are you getting information; is information forthcoming in your investigation?”
Elodio Aragon Jr.
“We are working as information comes to us and we are able to gather it.”
Jules Vasquez
“Is there some type of a limitation so far as the Lebanese culture may be somewhat insular, secretive, and if you are an outsider, it is hard to understand and penetrate the inner happenings of that fraternity? Is that a difficulty that will hamper an unimpeded investigation?”
Elodio Aragon Jr.
“There are always challenges in an investigation whether we are dealing with a child, whether we are dealing with groups of people, etc. The job of the Police Department is to carry out the investigation as best as they could working along with the community, etc, to try to solve these crimes. And that is what the Belize Police Department Eastern Division will be doing in regards to these two murders.”
Patrick Jones
“These two murders are without a doubt frightening in addition to the crime wave that we know exists in Belize City. What can you say to the Belizean people to allay their fears about their own safety?”
Elodio Aragon Jr.
“Well the way you put it; we have to really listen to what you are saying—that there is a serious crime wave. If you look at our statistics when it comes to murders, Belize City is down when it comes to murders compared to last year. Secondly these murders that we have seen are not our everyday murders; the gang rivalry that we see in our streets. So these are special cases that the police department is looking into. And all I can tell the community out there is that the police department is working hard to solve these crimes and we will continue to do so.”
Schakron was a prominent businessman who owned various businesses, among them is Megabingo which airs on this station.
It would be interesting to use our new $2-million bullet comparison equipment from Canada to see if the bullets that killed Dib and Schakron came from the same weapon. Does anybody here know how to use it?
CIB should ask the US for some help before the trail gets cold. It’s well-known that the US has the means to listen in on international calls, so maybe they have some idea of who was here and to whom they were communicating around the times of the murders. That could be helpful to know.
“No arrests in this case” and “dead on arrival”. Belize should start printing that on t-shirts, because that’s all you hear.
Full investigations??? why full investigations now??? why? because its a high profile murder?? because one of the guys is a multimillionaire???…so what? what does this mean?? have they been boing half a$$ed investigations all along??..where were the “special operations” wen the people were crying and begging for some sort of action to be done against the high crime rate??? incompentent police department and broken justice system….sad sad very sad…
This man is talking crap useless inompetent impotent. Pm and gov. People we need to march this pm nd gov. Need to go you Betta march before you are next or your children re next to get shot the corruption is now total in this gov. What is he going to find out when the gov. Has all these gang members in their pockets they have these hit men to do their bidding whenever someone opposes barrow they have their hit men go out and do their job wake up people wake up.
So a rich man died and Police are scrambling from all over to try to find the killer, Man these people are big drug dealers, they are the same as the one out here in San Pedro. However, when young girl and boys go missing you don’t hear the bwai aragon dispatch CIB, CIU to find there killers… That is to show you the country of Belize These police are so mean to us the Belizean People. Try to find the killer for the young girls that are dead in Cayo. I wouldn’t be surprise its a Lebanese…
Elodio Aragon is a cool cat. I like his style. Of course, his masters are in Belmopan, so Elodio’s shuffle is simply whatever Belmopan wants.
You know and I know that we all know…… nothing is going to come out of this investigation.
Bottom line : These immigrant crooks have taken over Belize. Sit back, and wait for the arrival of the Mexican drug cartels…………
get investigative help from outside, real CSI professionals from the US. Dib was US citizen. don’t be arrogant like Saldivar, ask for help. the last thing we want to hear are excuses and that crime is down. crime is the number 0ne problem in Belize, the economic toll it is having on our country is incalculable. this one man for example, has made money but has reinvested everything right back in Belize. he did not live a lavish lifestyle, he created employment for many people, he obviosly paid taxes on his businesses, so even government looses. the belizean americans and belizeans all over the world that want to come home and retire, or start a business will definitely think it over now. is it worth it, can this be the main reason why foreign direct investments are down 90% from 5 years ago. this is the cost of crime .
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt told satellite channel Al-Arabiya: “[Bashar al-Assad] is telling us that even though he turned Syria into rubble, ‘I am ready to kill in any place.'”
Nadim Gemayel, an MP from the right-wing Christian Phalange Party, also pointed to Syria, where the 18-month old uprising against Mr Assad has turned increasingly violent.
“This regime, which is crumbling, is trying to export its conflict to Lebanon,” he said.
Mr Hariri’s 14 March bloc issued a statement accusing the Beirut government of protecting “criminals” and calling on it to stand down.
BBC Report
“Wissam al-Hassan was among eight people who died in the attack
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
Profile: Wissam al-Hassan
Lebanese fear for future Watch
In pictures: Beirut blast
The Lebanese cabinet has been holding emergency talks a day after a powerful car bomb killed the head of internal intelligence and seven others.
Friday’s blast occurred in the mainly Christian district of Ashrafiya, in a busy street close to the headquarters of Mr Hariri’s 14 March coalition.
The dead included internal intelligence head Wissam al-Hassan, who was close to Mr Hariri, a leading critic of the government in neighbouring Syria.
Mr Hassan led an investigation that implicated Damascus in the 2005 bombing that killed Mr Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
He also recently organised the arrest of a former minister accused of planning a Syrian-sponsored bombing campaign in Lebanon”.
Lebanese supporters worldwide support their backers, families, and whatever group they belong to, back home, with drug money, mega bingo money, whatever hustleling they do. Sometimes their differences follow them to places like Belize.
Lebanese abroad are not presently permitted the right to vote in Lebanese elections. A law passed in late 2008 gives expatriates the right to vote in elections in 2013.[12]
[edit]Economic Impacts
According to an investigation, Lebanese abroad are considered “rich, educated and influential. Over the course of time, emigration has yielded Lebanese “commercial networks” throughout the world.[13] As a result, remittances from Lebanese abroad to family members within the country total $8.4 billion[14] and account for one fifth of the country’s economy.[15] Nassib Ghobril, the head of research and analysis for Byblos Bank, calculates that Lebanese abroad supply Lebanon with about $1,400 per capita every year.[16]
I’ll get to the bottom of this. Joseph Marinan