Armed Robbery at Nationwide Cash Express inside ICB San Pedro Branch

Salvador Awe

The spate of armed robberies of late has not been limited to Belize City.  This morning at eight o‘clock, a lone gunman entered a local branch of the Insurance Corporation of Belize in San Pedro and held up the cashier at the start of business.  Shortly thereafter, police responded to the robbery at the corners of Tarpon Street and Pescador Drive.  According to an employee, the thief entered and made his way toward the Nationwide Cash Express section where he produced a firearm and relieved her of eight thousand dollars in various denominations.  The two-minute robbery was caught on surveillance cameras in the area, which is under revision. Earlier today, News Five spoke by phone with Salvador Awe, C.E.O. of Nationwide Cash Express, who told us that a suspect is in police custody.

On the Phone: Salvador Awe, C.E.O., Nationwide Cash Express

“At the business opening this morning, a lone assailant went into our office and robbed the cashier.  Thankfully no one was hurt.  The whole incident lasted about two minutes.  The police have made one detention and we are reviewing our security footage, as well as the security footage of the neighboring businesses to determine if the person who has been apprehended is the culprit.  ICB operates a subsidiary company called Nationwide Cash Express that does money sending and it was the money sending side that was held up.”

Isani Cayetano

“Are you at liberty to disclose the sum of money that was taken during this robbery?”

Salvador Awe

“Not at this time.  What I can tell you Mr. Cayetano is that ICB has been operating in Belize for thirty-six years.  We intend to continue providing service to the Belizean public in a full range of financial services, money sending, money lending, as well as insurance services.  We are committed to continuing our business.  This is an unfortunate event and we will be ensuring that we do a thorough assessment of our security procedures throughout the country to try to mitigate occurrences like this.”