2 to be charged in Belize Bank heist; over$100,000 recovered
It was business as usual this morning at the Belize Bank Corozal Branch, but that was not the case Sunday night when the bank, that is located within eyeshot of the police station, was robbed of over a hundred thousand dollars. According to Corozal Police, around eight-fifteen that night they were alerted by two tellers, Vilma Guzman and Miriam Quan, that they had been robbed. The women say they went to the bank around seven-thirty to service the ATM machine when they were lay-waited by two men. Quick work by police has already resulted in the recovery of most of the money and the detention of four persons. This morning Officer Commanding Corozal Police, Miguel Guzman told us what happened.
Supt. Miguel Guzman, O.C., Corozal Police
“As they entered the bank through the backdoor, the two persons dressed in full black with Halloween mask and gloves entered behind them. They held them up and forced them to empty out the monies that was inside the ATM machine. Subsequent to the amount of money in there, it was one hundred and sixteen thousand, nine hundred and thirty dollars that was stolen. Thereafter they got in Ms. Vilma Guzman’s car and made their escape. We did an intensive investigation following the report whereby we followed all leads, we searched several homes and eventually we intercepted a vehicle that was driven at the time by Jorge Rosado and had an occupant by the name of Alex Arana. The vehicle is a Nissan Altima car. It was then that we received certain leads of the whereabouts of the money and so police went to San Andres road in a lot that has a building under construction and they found a knapsack with an amount of money amounting to one hundred and sixteen thousand, one hundred and ten dollars so eight hundred and ten dollars are still missing. We continued our investigation and about six-thirty a.m. the car of Ms. Vilman Guzman was found at the Ricalde Stadium at about six-thirty this morning.”
The two tellers and the two men were immediately taken into custody for questioning as police continued their investigation. According to Superintendent Guzman, until someone is ruled out, everyone is a suspect.
Kendra Griffith
“So you all believe this was an inside job?”
Supt. Miguel Guzman
“We are exploring all sorts of possibilities right now including that it may be an inside job. There is some indication that they had some information from certain people who work along with the bank, but that matter is still under investigation and once we come to some conclusion then we will have an arrest and charge. If we have to arrest one or two of tellers, then we have to do that but that us still under investigation.”
Kendra Griffith
“When do you expect these charges to be levied?”
Supt. Miguel Guzman
“By, latest tomorrow morning but we’ll try to see how quickly we can pursue the investigation to get some sort of lead by today. But if we are unable to proceed with the charges today, by tomorrow definitely these people should be before the court.”
Information to News Five this evening indicates that the crime may have indeed been an inside job. And latest reports to our newsroom say that Guzman and her boyfriend are expected to be charged for Robbery and Conspiracy to Commit Robbery.
In other crime news, Corozal police are asking residents to be on the lookout for two men wanted for questioning for a burglary of the Education Centre in that district. The men are Alex Tillett and Garvin Armstrong. During the burglary, three computers were stolen. The items have been recovered by police.
