Tourist van held up in Cayo

A group of tourists in Cayo got a bit more of a Belize adventure than they bargained for this weekend. On Sunday four guests and their tour guide were held up as they drove in a van on their way to Chaa Creek Resort. Guide Philip Burns, twenty-four, of Yute Expeditions, had just picked up the group in San Ignacio following a canoe trip down the Macal River. Just before 5:30 in the evening, after turning onto the Chial Road from the Western Highway, the van was stopped by a group of six to eight masked men, at least one of whom had a gun and the others knives. The driver and guests were ordered out, herded into the nearby bush and tied up. They were then relieved of over eleven thousand dollars worth of cash and valuables, primarily jewelry. The robbers then piled into the van and sped off toward the Western Highway. The van was later recovered about three miles away on the road to Nabitunich near the Guatemalan border, a favourite route for smugglers. Sources close to the investigation tell News 5 that the robbers were very young, spoke only Spanish and are believed to be Guatemalans.