Police recover jewelry from Hummingbird heist
Less than a week after the dramatic armed holdup of hundreds of people on the Hummingbird Highway near Roaring River, authorities have made a significant breakthrough in the case. Two people have been detained by police in connection with the incident, along with a sizeable amount of items, including money, suspected of being taken in the robbery. Today Commissioner of Police Ornel Brooks spoke to the media about the discovery.
The jewelry found included an assortment of gold earrings, chains, rings and bracelets. The cash according to Commissioner of Police Ornel Brooks is the result of a countrywide operation that was launched over the weekend.
Ornel Brooks, Commissioner of Police
“Yesterday we conducted an operation, this was a countrywide operation and in so doing we arrested two people originally based upon intelligence profile developed who we believed could have something to do with the recent highway robbery. We are saying that this is intelligence that we are working on and trying to convert that intelligence into evidence.
As a result of the searches conducted on these two individual homes and I may say they are Carlos Cervantes Castro, 39 years, of Maya Mopan settlement. He is a refugee by status. And Jose Pastor Leiva, 69 years, Salvadoran refugee.
Between the two homes we’ve seized one hundred and eighteen pieces of jewelry and that is the cache that you have just photographed. In addition to that we have seized near six, seven thousand dollars made up in Quetzal, U.S. dollars, Belize dollars from the home of Castro. And we also seized near three thousand dollars in Belize currency from the home of Leiva. We are continuing our investigation around these two individuals.”
Q: “Could you share with us what kind of relationship Mr. Leiva and Mr. Castro had with the robbers?”
Ornel Brooks
“We haven’t positively identified them as collaborators. I am saying that we are working on intelligence which we’re trying to convert into evidence.”
Q: “We got a report saying that last week Thursday there were two Hispanic men selling jewelry in the village of Maskall and that the police responded to that call two days later. Do you care to respond?”
Ornel Brooks
“We have checked with our detectives and they received no such call.”
Q: “In his press conference Dean Barrow mentioned that a number of people were deported to Guatemala. During your ongoing investigation of the highway robbery do you feel that they have any kind of connection with this group?”
Ornel Brooks
“Yes, as I have said earlier, this intelligence gathering process in earnest highest degree of intensity since February they would have been able to strike in March, they would have had this one down on in Orange Walk, in Corozal.”
Q: “But do you believe that the people that we deported were connected in any way to this highway robbery?”
Ornel Brooks
“I would beg not to answer that one way or the other this point in time because it is an ongoing investigation. I do appreciate the question though and I trust you understand the confidentiality that is involved.”
Q: “We have received a number of reports that police officers received the call and did not respond. Are you looking into this and probably reprimanding one officer that I was made to understand got the call in good time?”
Ornel Brooks
“Initially, I said initially that the investigation has three trusts: One, we are looking at the actual criminality with the intention of interdiction and prosecuting. Two, we are looking at the overall security implications. And three, we are looking internally at our own mechanisms as such.
Let me say here that a lot of intelligence work has been going on and with high degree of intensity since the end of February. And our effort, our aim has been geared towards looking at criminals who have been involved in a number of crimes. That includes the people residing in Belize and the people residing over the border working in close collaboration with each other. A lot of lot of work has been done and sufficing to say that it is based on this type of intelligence why we are moving ahead with the degree of progress we have achieved thus far.”
Brooks says so far the two Salvadoran detained have not given any statement as to how they came to be in possession and the jewelry and cash.
Brooks says that the two men in custody are not believed to have actually been involved in the Hummingbird Highway holdup, but that they may have assisted the robbers in some way. The police are asking that anyone who recognizes any of the jewelry as their property to call the special hotline to make arrangements for them to be identified. The hotline number is (08) 23865.
