Brazen daylight robbery of Coca Cola distribution factory
A daring robbery took place early this morning, soon after the Bowen and Bowen Distribution Centre opened for business. The armed and masked robbers sat in a waiting car outside and struck shortly after eight o’clock. They had apparently plotted their moves with precision since security had not kicked in yet and they seemed to know where to hit. News Five Isani Cayetano was at the scene of the crime and has this report.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
“The Bowen & Bowen Slaughterhouse Road distribution center was today once again the target of armed robbers; the third attack on this compound since the infamous 2002 robbery/murders.”
From the look of things it is business as usual as customers are being allowed unto the property to redeem empty bottles or make purchases. Shortly before nine this morning cashiers inside the main office came under attack by two masked men wielding handguns. A distraught cashier who wished to remain anonymous recounted the harrowing experience.
Employee, Bowen & Bowen Ltd.
“We were working, had customers, and all of a sudden two men armed with guns had on ski masks on and dressed in full black came and said “this is a robbery unu lay low” and all of a sudden the first thing what happened we had one customer in front of me and one of the men hold up the customer. All of a sudden the other man jumped across the table and came directly to me at gunpoint. I was laying flat on the floor and he just went straight into the drawer, take out our cash, we had a bag with cash and he went also with my purse. He then went to the next cashier, did the same thing to her. She was lying down at gunpoint, went inside her drawer straight into our cash and went with her purse as well then he went to the back, to the two girls sitting at the back. They were lying flat, one of the head supervisors, they went into her drawer and went with several cash in her drawer and we were there frightened, stunned, afraid for our life and all of a sudden they jumped back and went straight outside.”
The entire ordeal lasted only a few seconds with both assailants making good their escape. A vague sense of normalcy was restored shortly after ten o’clock as employees on the beverage supply compound returned to their respective duties. But why did Bowen and Bowen, one of the biggest companies in Belize, not have a security presence at the start of the business day?
Nick Pollard Jr., Sales Manager, Bowen & Bowen Ltd.
nick pollard jr.
“The reason for that is that absolutely no sales monies are kept in this building in the mornings. All transactions are completed before nightfall and I would venture to say that these men were prepared just to do an armed robbery for little or nothing. Because of this, our KBH armed guard comes on at ten o’clock in the morning. That’s one guard and we have changed that immediately. As you are speaking to me right now there are now two armed guards in place and that will continue effectively everyday as of eight a.m. in the morning. So when our sales office opens at eight a.m. we will have two armed guards in place.”
This is the third attack on Bowen and Bowen. On June eighteenth, 2002 the distribution center was assaulted by two of its deliverymen who proceeded to rob several thousand dollars in nightly deposits. Before fleeing the scene two of three security officers lay mortally wounded in an armored truck. A third was also shot in the neck. Two other persons were also murdered following the robbery by Leslie Pipersburgh and Patrick Robateau. Eight years later the duo which had been sentenced to hang for the quadruple murders committed during the incident is being granted an appeal in the next session of the Court of Appeal.
Nick Pollard Jr.
“They were found guilty in the Supreme Court, guilty in the Appeals Court and then the warlords in London set them free and has given them a new trial. This is where we are with justice and our judiciary. So what are we doing? Are we gonna be seeing these guys walking free soon to go out and kill again as we have seen in other cases?”
While police were able to get a conviction of Pipersburgh and Robateau they are today looking for two suspects who took part in the latest robbery of Bowen & Bowen Ltd. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
If London is setting murderers free then what can we do against the house of rules?
This place was targeted before and the outcome was a very unfortunate one, but still security guards cost too much to hire full time, so they hire part-time security guards to keep the safety.
What a darn shame, saving money is more important than the workers lives.
Mr Pollard is very smart. Lets give the criminals the time that your security officer comes on and when you do your “nightfall” transactions. RETARD!
I am glad that those limey b…will be replaced by the caribbean court of justice…I sure hope that whoever gets sentenced to hang now gets hanged.
This is exactly why crime is awful. We call our community retards. No respect. How much people have their security set up in various ways. Nothing is wrong with that. The crooks are watching and it is hard to protect oneself in these hard economic times period.
The building is very secure when it’s closed, and no money is kept in there during that time; hence, why they don’t need full time guards after the nightfall transactions are completed (money is taken to another location).
Based on what the rep is saying, managment assumed that since no money is in the building first thing in the morning, no one would want to rob them. But now they know differently: “these men were prepared just to do an armed robbery for little or nothing” and they have made necessary changes: “there are now two armed guards in place and that will continue effectively everyday as of eight a.m. in the morning.”
This is how companies learn. Thankfully no lives were lost.
one advice……………hit squads and clean up campaigns…..raids and curfew………..enough is enough, we are no longer living in a safe society. this is madness and nonsence.make perfect examples of all these mad people. what else they expect……….to get everything for free..and why finding a descent job is not an option. enuff tolerance already
our people lives is more important than the money…but it seems you people dont understand.im guessing u still have your brains in your a…. huh…OPEN UR EYES PEEPS 😀
I fully agree with maddyjavnik, shame on Bowen and Bowen for thinking about profit first rather than ensuring the safety of their staff and clients. Hiring an addtional security guard is a step in the right direction but it is not enough; you need to do more Bowen safety should be your number one priority and not profit.
It’s ashame that with all these crimes happening in Belize that the owner of these facilities don’t have any kind of plan in place when it comes to the security of their employees.Security guards are suppose to be at that facility 24/7.That’s what happens when you’re cheap.They prefer to jeoperdize their employees life just because they don’t want to pay for security.
HMM if you all think for a second that the decision of the Privy council in the case of Robateau and pipersburg was not well in reach then why did the Supreme court judge wrote a 38 page report on behave of the accuse see you all just look from the outside and judge but God will judge you all too don’t spit in the air cause it will fall back on your face investigate before making comment that are idle
Excuse me! he aint a retard! If you don’t have nothing nice to say…dont say it at all!
Well money is the root of all evil its plain to be seen money talk and bs walks. which it should be the other way around people first at all times no matter what the circumstances.