5 bank robbers remain at large
A day after one of the most violent bank robberies in the nation’s history, police seem no closer to catching any of the five remaining criminals believed to be involved…but Commissioner Carmen Zetina did speak to the press this morning to offer details of what went down in the town of Orange Walk.
Jose Carmen Zetina, Police Commissioner
“It would seem to us that this case of the criminal elements involved in this case might have some bearing with the Mexican counterparts there. So it might be a ring of–might be Belizeans, can be Salvadorans no doubt, and Mexican, but we’re looking closely at the investigation as I said as it unfolds.”
Patrick Jones, Reporting
Almost twenty-four hours after a group of heavily armed men held up and robbed the Orange Walk Branch of the Belize Bank, Police Commissioner Carmen Zetina and lead investigator, Senior Superintendent Edwardo Wade, briefed reporters on the status of investigations so far. The time line as constructed by the police starts at ten minutes to midday on Tuesday morning when someone walked into the police station and told them that the bank was being robbed. The entire episode is estimated to have taken no more than ten to twelve minutes and Wade says when the cops responded, they were greeted with hot lead.
Sr. Supt. Edwardo Wade, Lead Investigator
“And there was an exchange of fire between the police and an armed robber who was apparently standing guard at the door, I would call it the back door of the bank which faces the Market Lane. During that exchange of fire, one of the robbers, the same one who was shooting at the police, was hit and he apparently fell dead or seriously injured. Shortly thereafter, within minutes, another individual was seen running out of the bank and heading towards the river, which is not too far from there. Police set chase after him, but he jumped into the river, swam across and made good his escape.”
Wade says the fleeing robber dropped what he was carrying, a plastic bag containing money. Police believe that the robbers initially got their hands on over fifty grand, but could not take all of it.
Sr. Supt. Edwardo Wade
“We have just gotten that information that it was roughly fifty-one thousand dollars that was stolen. Of than fifty-one, we have recovered twenty odd thousand dollars. So in fact and in truth, it’s just about thirty off thousand dollars that is in fact missing.”
But the thirty Gs are not the only missing pieces of the puzzle. The identity of the five fleeing robbers is still not known, but police strongly believe that they are not Belizeans. The body in the morgue has been identified as this man, forty-four year old Salvadoran Gregorio Rivas Ayala, who has been living in Belize for the last six years. And the cops believe that the suspects may no longer be in the country.
Sr. Supt. Edwardo Wade
“Looking at the location where the vehicles were found abandoned, it is presumed that they might have gone across the border, because these vehicles were found not far from the Belize Mexican border; but they could be well be in Belize too.”
Wade says based on testimonies of people and evidence gathered at the crime scene, Tuesday’s armed robbery was no spur of the moment activity. And the bandits carried some deadly firepower.
Sr. Supt. Edwardo Wade
“We know that the security guards at the bank doing duty at the time at the bank were unarmed. Therefore, we believe that it was during the exchange of fire with the police and that individual that he was killed.”
“As it relates to the type of weapons that are involved, we have based on the evidence gathered so far, we know that shotguns were involved, twenty gauge, twelve gauge. We know that a nine millimetre was involved. We also know that thirty-thirty and a forty-five were involved, so these are heavy calibre weapons.”
Police are trying to get copies of the bank’s surveillance tapes in the hope of getting more insight of what took place when the robbers entered. The police have retracted their original statement that bloodstains were found in the black van, in which the robbers first drove up to the bank. That vehicle, which bore license plates CYC9941, has been traced to a buyer in Corozal who police are now seeking for questioning. Patrick Jones, for News 5.
The licence plate, we are told, does not match the vehicle’s registration.
