Belize City man arrested for armed hold-up of friend

In court news, a Belize City man has been arrested and charged for the armed hold-up of one of his friends. Twenty-one year old Mervin Cruz appeared before Magistrate Roberto Ordonez on Tuesday morning where he pled not guilty to a charge of robbery. According to the victim, Ian Arthurs, around noon on March thirtieth he was walking through an alley off Lakeview Street when he was approached by three Hispanic young men on bicycles, one of whom was armed with a handgun. Arthurs was ordered to hand over his gold chain valued at six hundred dollars and the thieves simply rode away. Thing is, Arthurs knew one of the men and quickly reported the information to police. The suspect managed to elude cops for two weeks, but Cruz was eventually picked up over the holiday weekend. Because a firearm was involved in the incident, the accused has been remanded to Hattieville Prison until the nineteenth of April. His two accomplices have yet to be arrested.