British tourists robbed on S. Highway

Despite the widespread belief that Belize is in the grip of a major crime wave, one category of potential victims that seems to have enjoyed a period of relative tranquillity is that of tourists. Until this week that is, when three British visitors were held up and robbed at gunpoint on the Southern Highway. The men, Christopher Abbot, John Groom and Mark Valentine, were standing on the road around eight-thirty on Wednesday night waiting to catch a ride to Independence village when the incident took place. According to police, the tourists were about one and a half miles from the Bladen Bridge, when a brown Isuzu pickup with four men inside pulled up. One of the passengers, armed with a shotgun, pointed the weapon at the Brits, while his accomplices stole their money, totalling seven thousand dollars, along with their travel bags and contents. Two days after the highway robbery, the police have yet to make an arrest.