3 arrested, 1 sought in theft of Mayan artifacts
It was an audacious crime but tonight police in San Ignacio have 3 of the 4 suspects in custody. A 16-year old student and a 20-year old man, Dennis Castillo, have been charged with burglary while 18-year old Shane Espat has been charged with handling stolen goods. The charges arise out of a break in last week in which nineteen ancient Mayan pieces were taken from the site of Cahal Pech. The stolen artifacts are estimated to have a black market value of a half million Belize dollars. That such a heist was pulled off with such relative ease last Wednesday night at the Cahal Pech visitors centre in Cayo has the Archaeology Department reconsidering its policy of lending out the country’s treasures under less than secure conditions. Yesterday News Five traveled to Belmopan where Commissioner of Archaeology Allan Moore explained that the theft sent a shockwave through his department.
Allan Moore, Archaeological Commissioner
“That’s what’s scary about it, it’s that we realise that we have to tighten up on security. We realise that people are out there watching and trying to dismember the little cultural atmosphere that we have in terms of the artifacts.”
Moore says that the department is reviewing the conditions under which it puts valuable artifacts on display and will be insisting on better security when it does let the pieces out of Belmopan. On Monday he took us inside the vault for a look at pieces almost identical to those stolen from Cahal Pech.
Allan Moore
“We have similar pieces in the department, however, it’s sad to say that those pieces are specific pieces from Cahal Pech and other sites that have been documented and have specific, what we call insitu, that tells a particular story. Like for example, we have one piece like this that was gone and this is a jade mask, definitely to use as a pendant. It has holes and that’s back it’s hollow. We again have a bigger piece, a bigger mask that was gone. We haven’t been able to recover that as yet, but some of the smaller pieces are pieces like what we would have here as in some of the jade ear flare. These are used as ear flares, and other pendants and smaller pendants from other sites. So I think that if we could recover these pieces…I would appeal to the Belizean public that if they know of or have seen pieces like these floating around to contact the police, contact the Archaeology Department. We would love to have them back. It’s not for the Department of Archaeology, it is for the government and the people of Belize. So it’s our artifact, guys so lets help us to try and recover all these artifacts that were stolen”
Of the 19 pieces stolen, 9 have so far been recovered. thieves broke into the building, which is operated by the Belize Tourism Board, by breaking through the roof. While 3 suspects have been charged police are still looking for Jordy Espat, the man believed to be the leader of the group. All 4 men live in the New Area of Santa Elena.
