Police appeal helps solve Saturday’s Hummingbird Highway robbery

It was billed as a press conference to discuss ministerial issues and to report on recent achievements by the Ministry of National Security. And while he attempted to, Deputy Prime Minister Dean Barrow only briefly addressed certain aspects of his portfolio as the hot topic of the day was the mid-Saturday morning hold up on the Hummingbird Highway.

According to Barrow, Saturday’s incident came just a couple of days after his ministry took decisive steps to address the worrisome behavior of some residents of the refugee community around Belmopan.

Dean Barrow, Minister of National Security

“We felt that in those cases, people living in Belize were responsible and as I said over the past month or so, we mounted an operation to try and flush out the illegal settlers in the areas that we thought were concerned with previous incidents that had taken place. As a result a number of persons were repatriated. And in fact this is a continuing exercise that on Thursday, I believe of last week, I signed twelve deportation orders in again trying to sanitize if possible the communities in particular those areas – although the deportation orders were not limited to persons from that area.”

Whether or not any of the deportees were actually involved in the highway heist, neither the Minister, nor the Police High Command could confirm. Barrow said, however, that they have compiled a profile of all the deportees and that information has been forwarded to the Guatemalan authorities, who are cooperating in the investigation.

Dean Barrow

“Clearly the police feels that there are linkages between those that came across and some of the people that are actually settled in this country. While we are in no doubt that the actual perpetrators are not from Belize, the feeling is that they must have been here perhaps a day or two before the actual incident on Saturday. Therefore would have had to receive aid and comfort from people who actually are residing in this country and I would hate to generalize and I don’t want to be taken to be casting a slur on any element of our population. But then again the cold fact is that we have been concern about the activity among the settler population, the alien population in this particular area of Belize and of course in other areas.”

Barrow described the actions of the robbers as bold, brazen and outrageous and said what is particularly worrisome about the whole affair is the way the bandits were able to freely penetrate the Western Border and conduct such a large scale criminal activity. The Minister says, while he believes there is a small chance that Saturday’s incident will be repeated anytime soon, steps are being taken to ensure that if it does, law enforcement authorities will be ready. Plans include beefing up patrols on all major highways by both the police and B.D.F. Brigadier General Robert Garcia, says the operation’s concept is to use the several B.D.F. camps around the country as command base.

Brigadier General, Robert Garcia, B.D.F. Commandant

“In the north, there is the Eyles Camp. The Eyles Camp Company supported by the Dragons will be responsible for patrolling from the Northern Border down to both the Northern Highways, but the old highways as far south as Maskall. In addition to the highways they will also be doing those off shoot roads and feeder roads.

In the West Camp, Belizario, the Cayo Company again supported by the police force will be responsible for patrolling area from Benque down to Dangriga and along the Coastal Road. The Southern Battalion will continue doing what they are doing, but supported by the police to do the Southern Highway, P.G. road.”

Garcia says the highway patrols will have direct communication with all police stations, and where no such contact is available, community leaders will be called upon to lend a helping hand. While Minister Barrow would offer no direct comment on activities across the Western Border, he said there are a couple of incidents that may have contributed to Saturday’s incident.

Dean Barrow

“There has been a downsizing in the military there and as well as a result of the signing of the peace process, a number ex-guerillas are thrown out of work. So that in that country, there has been a consequence to the fact that so many military or ex- military types having nothing to do and as I understand it, turning to crime and violence We are where we are, we are clearly not immune from the events that take place just across our border. Our borders are porous. It’s a matter of impracticability to seal the border, if that was in the larger context desirable. So that it is indeed circumstances that something of this sort has happen.”

According to the police, the incident involved approximately twenty five vehicles and close to one hundred and twenty five passengers although some eyewitness say the number of people held up is considerably more than the police are reporting. In response to why the police took nearly an hour to reach the scene, Acting Commissioner of Police Lester Garnet explained that the first report did not come in to the Belmopan Police Station until shortly after ten o’clock on Saturday morning. Garnett said that shortly after a quick response team was dispatched to the Roaring River area.

Lester Garnett, Acting Commissioner of Police

“The vehicle executed evasive maneuvers and was suddenly fired upon by two more similar dressed and equipped individuals from the rear. These new attacks blew out two tires of the vehicle. Finding themselves in a cross fire, the team unboarded the vehicle and moved into the bushes off the side of the road and returned fire at the four robbers, who kept advancing on them. One of the robbers was hit and fell.”

That robber, according to Garnet was picked up by his colleagues and placed inside the highjacked grey-green Dodge Pam pickup truck, which sped off towards Belmopan. Garnett said it took the men fleeing the scene no more than thirty minutes to reach Benque Viejo del Carmen, hardly enough time he said, for the police to set up any effective roadblocks along the way. The pickup truck was later found abandoned on the Arenal Road, less than a mile away from the Guatemalan Border. Lying dead inside the back of the truck was the robber who was wounded by the police in the shoot-out.

Up to newstime the identity of the dead robber was still unknown and the police are asking anyone who has information that could lead to his identification to come forward. The picture on your screen will be posted around the country as well as in Melchor de Mencos, Guatemala in the hope that someone will recognize him. A ten thousand dollar reward for the identity of the dead man and information leading to the capture of the six other robbers has been posted by police. Meanwhile the police say they are disappointed that so far only twelve of the victims of Saturday’s armed hold-up on the Hummingbird Highway have been interviewed, and are asking for the other victims to contact the nearest police station to give their statement.