Burglars steal over $50,000 in electronics from Courts warehouse
It is one of the largest chain stores around the country, Courts Belize, and it is known for its deals, but still some felt that the best deal was to steal. The Belize City warehouse was burglarized over the weekend and neither the security guards nor the surveillance cameras could deter the thieves who got in through the roof and managed to escape with over fifty thousand dollars worth of electronic gadgets. Joel Salazar, the operations manager for Unicomer Limited, which owns Courts Belize, says that it might have been an inside job.
Joel Salazar, Operations Manager, Unicomer Ltd. (Courts)
“Well, from what we can tell our warehouse and distribution manager discovered the break in early on Monday morning when they were opening up for business for the day. We reviewed our cameras and we can actually say the break-in occurred around six-forty to around nine-thirty on Sunday morning. That’s when we can see the activities going around our cameras.”
Jose Sanchez
“You actually have footage of the men during the break in?”
Joel Salazar
“We can detect footage, given to the police outside the building of the guys, whoever perpetrated from outside the building.”
Jose Sanchez
“Do you have an idea of how many people there were?”
Joel Salazar
“No we don’t have an idea. We can only tell from the images what time the incident occurred.”
Jose Sanchez
“Exactly what was stolen?”
Joel Salazar
“We have several high value small items, namely digital cameras, game consoles, car stereos; Dell and HP notebook computers; and Sharp Aquos thirty-two inch LCD TV’s. That was taken from the warehouse.”
Jose Sanchez
“If the these criminals attempt to sell any of the items stolen from the warehouse, do you have any way of verifying that it belongs to Courts?”
Joel Salazar
“Yes, as a matter of fact, having doing business directly with the manufacturers, especially Dell, HP, Sharp, we do have model numbers, serial numbers in particular for all of these items that we can detect whether or not it is from us.”
Jose Sanchez
“The area where they broke in, have you found a way to keep it secure?”
Joel Salazar
“Well we’ve… yes we have. We’ve taken some additional security measures there at the warehouse to secure the building. It’s the first break in we’ve had since we’ve moved into that location and we’re looking at better ways of improving the security there.”
Jose Sanchez
“A company of your size is expected to have a lot of security, did you have anyone on guard?”
Joel Salazar
“We do have security guards on hands, but unfortunately, our cameras do capture them, see them in the front of the building during the time that this was happening.”
Jose Sanchez
“So how did the criminals remove the goods? They had to take them somewhere.”
Joel Salazar
“We suspect that through the back, through the river, and through the mangrove; that’s where we see the tracks leading out to the river. And that’s how they were able to get it out.”
Jose Sanchez
“With all the security that you have in place, and the amount of goods that were stolen, do you have any suspicions of it being an inside job?”
Joel Salazar
“Just the, from the circumstances of how the crime was perpetrated, we strongly believe it could have been an inside job.”
Jose Sanchez
“Care to give any details?”
Joel Salazar
“No, we’re just looking at former employees of the company.”
Jose Sanchez
“So you’re saying essentially it’s someone who had to know the warehouse?”
Joel Salazar
“More or less, yes.”
The police investigators believe that the men gained entrance and exit to the warehouse by cutting through a fiberglass portion of the roof. It is believed that a boat was waiting to transport the burglars with their cargo across the river where their getaway vehicle was waiting. The police investigation continues.
