Alleged Culprits in Income Tax Heist are Detained

There was a robbery last Friday evening at the Income Tax Department in Belmopan. Sometime around five-thirty p.m., as employees were wrapping up for the day, they were held up at gunpoint by three men who entered the establishment demanding money. Over thirty thousand dollars was taken; a police officer who was on special duty at the Income Tax Department was also held up and relieved of his point thirty-eight pistol and belongings.  The robbers then got away in a grey Toyota Four-Runner SUV; that is now in police custody. But despite working around the clock on the murder investigation of Pastor Llewellyn Lucas, the officers were able to detain the alleged culprits and recover part of the loot. Senior Superintendent Howell Gillett, who commands the Belmopan Police Formation, told News Five more via phone today.

On the Phone: Sr. Supt. Howell Gillett, O.C., Belmopan Police Formation

“We have four persons in custody; three are males and one is a female. We believe that the female was the driver of the vehicle at the time while the three males were the persons that entered the Income Tax Department and held up the staff and the police officer who was providing security at the time. We have been able to recover a number of things and you and viewers may well appreciate that this was a simultaneous investigation because we had the murder of Mister Lucas, Pastor Lue—although it did not occur in the Belmopan jurisdiction—because of continuity and chain of custody because the head was found here, we were tasked to do the investigation in the murder incident. So having said that, we have been able to retrieve a rental vehicle that we believe were proceeds from the robbery. Two motorcycles, a sizeable amount of cash, one nine millimeter pistol and a number of rounds and a thirty-eight revolver, the same one that was taken away from the police officer. The charges that would likely be forthcoming tomorrow: robbery, abetment to commit robbery, two counts of possession of unlicensed firearm and unlicensed ammunition.”

Duane Moody

“The persons that are detained, are they all from Belmopan? Is it believed that the robbery was an inside job?”

On the Phone: Sr. Supt. Howell Gillett

“Well initially, from the onset, we believe that there was inside, some form of collusion. We still believe that, but I believe also that we don’t have sufficient evidence at this moment to levy any charge against the income tax staff member—one staff member who we believe colluded with one or more of the suspects. The investigation is not close; we continue to investigate because we want to get to the bottom of it because we don’t want this to ever occur again.”