Robbers Steal Cash and Jewelry from “Tanga’s” Grave

It dates back to the days of ancient civilizations and has happened in Belize before, but over the weekend, tomb robbers, showing no respect for the dead, desecrated a grave at the Lord’s Ridge Cemetery. It reportedly happened at nightfall, just after Winston “Tanga” James was interred, following a spirited funeral procession with live images showing the placement of cash and valuables in his casket. Marion Ali has the story in the following report.

Winston “Tanga” James

Marion Ali, Reporting

He was the street figure who was sought in death as he was in life; as the grave of the man that the nation came to know as Tanga was broken into less than a day after he was laid to rest. Winston James was gunned down as he drove along West Canal on Friday, January twenty-first. He was buried on Saturday with a whole lot of cash and jewelry placed in the casket as the event aired live on Facebook. And eight hours later, grave robbers broke into the tomb and stole the money and items. Andrew Munnings of Munnings Funeral Services and Live Events and Designs shared the disturbing discovery via a live post on Facebook on Sunday, and said that with permission from the Ministry of Health, they exhumed the casket to see the damage that had been done.

Andrew Munnings

Andrew Munnings, Live Events & Designs

“Upon arriving here just now, we realized that the bricks that we had placed there were not the original bricks that we had sent, which truly means automatically the tomb was tampered with, the flowers that were inside the tomb were now outside the tomb. So upon opening the tomb, we realized that the casket was not placed how we placed it. So we opened the casket and all jewelry, all the cash that was set on Tanga yesterday, someone came in the course of last night and early this morning to rob Tanga of all his belongings.”

The thieves, who spotted a police mobile in the area, reportedly fled the scene, and the Police Department’s Communications Director, Assistant Superintendent Fitzroy Yearwood says that the police could not establish if anything was stolen at that time. Nonetheless, the officer urges the family to file an official report of the tomb robbery, so that they can investigate.

Fitzroy Yearwood

Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Director, Belize Police Department

“We would encourage some relative or maybe even the undertaker to come and make a complaint to the police. Of course, we are not ignoring the fact that police officers did respond to a call of disturbance sometime after two a.m., yesterday, Sunday the thirtieth. Our officers, when arriving at the scene at the cemetery, saw some people running away from that area. If you’re familiar with that cemetery, you would know that if the officers entered via vehicle, they would hear and see the police coming from a distance. So those persons made good their escape.”

While the family members are hoping that the jewelry items will show up at pawn shops for traceability, they had to endure the pain of the vandalism and robbery after they were called out to the cemetery on Sunday and decided to remove all remaining valuables from the casket. Worse than that, however, was that they had to bury their dead loved one a second time.

Reporting for News Five, I am Marion Ali.