Belmopan Taxi Operators Anxious After Two of Their Own Were Executed

Stephanie Grinage

The communities of Salvapan and Maya Mopan are still reeling from the brutal murders of two young taxi-men from those communities. The body of Isidro Suar was discovered late Friday night on the George Price Boulevard. He had been shot just minutes before. Even as Police investigated that murder, the decomposed body of Yoni Maas was discovered near a farm in Mount Pleasant. Both men lived in the same general area and both worked at the same stand in Belmopan. Two persons, Lincoln Bejerano and a seventeen year old female minor have been charged for robbery and firearm offences. It is believed that both are connected to one, and likely both murders. Investigators are trying to connect the dots and hope to levy more charges, but in the meantime taxi-men in Belmopan are uneasy at the violence visited on their own. Belmopan Police are aware of the pervasive anxiety, and are taking steps to address it. 

Insp. Stephanie Grinage, Deputy O.C., Belmopan Police Formation

“What we had advised the taxi people who stay out there late at night to get that last bus to let the other taxi-men know exactly who they’re taking and their whereabouts. That is one precaution that we advise them to take. We continue to do our patrols and we have beefed up our patrols in the Belmopan area and surrounding villages with the assistance of the Special Patrol Unit. For the Christmas holidays we had a Market Area patrol which includes the Terminal and the bank areas. We have since got in the special Patrol Unit to assist us in our patrols and we will be focusing on the Terminal area not only due to these incidents but generally.”

News Five has confirmed that Lincoln Bejerano was arrested in August 2014 for an armed robbery in Belmopan. He was remanded and later released on bail, with that case still pending.