Police Say Kidnapping Reports by Two Children are Made Up

Gerald Jones

Last evening, we reported on two incidents of attempted kidnappings that involved children, in one case, a six-year-old in Orange Walk, and a teenager in another instance, as she walked to school near Neal Pen Road and Central American Boulevard, in Belize City. There were two audio recordings that lent to the credibility of the reports of a black van that was allegedly used in the so-called abduction attempts. One of the recordings was from a parent and the other was purported to have been made by an A.S.P Gamboa, who assured that the matter was being investigated. Well it turns out that both incidents were fabricated. Today, Superintendent Gerald Jones said that the reports were basically stories that the children made up. But while that may be the case this time, Jones assures the public and students that this should not deter them from reporting actual cases that may occur, if and when they do.

Supt. Gerald Jones, Deputy H.N.C.I.B.

“The investigation has led us to believe that they were fabricating both stories – one in Orange Walk and one also in Belize City. And we will be visiting their parents and we’ll be talking to them about this situation because this information is very very serious and if you make any false report to the police you can also be dealt with for that. We ask that wardens, parents, guardians continue to be alert because we don’t want to drop our guards. We want to stay alert in case of any situation like this or a similar incident occurs, we ask that people come forward and report these situations to us. And also we have the community policing officers who will be visiting the schools to sensitize members of the public and also the students to do some form of awareness for whenever these things should occur that they channel these things to them as community policing officers and later on we can investigate the matter.”