A.T.M. robbery leaves victim tied to tree

Separate robberies in Belize City and Belmopan have netted thieves more than sixteen thousand dollars in loot and more disturbingly, left one victim tied to a tree.

According to twenty year old Leon Castillo, around three on Saturday afternoon, he went to use the First Caribbean Bank A.T.M. But when Castillo was walking back to his vehicle, two men, one armed with a sawed off shotgun, held him up. Castillo was forced into the truck and after picking up a third accomplice, taken to a feeder road off the Hummingbird Highway. The victim was later robbed of his fifty dollar withdrawal and a gold chain. Castillo was then tied to a tree and the thieves took off in his 1997 Isuzu Rodeo.

In the second case, sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning, burglars raided B.D.F. captain Ian Cunha’s Roaring Creek home of several power tools, a television, computer equipment, jewellery and other household items valued at more than twelve thousand dollars. Up to news time no arrests had been made in either incidents and anyone with information that may assist investigators is asked to please contact the nearest police station.

Meanwhile, a security guard at the K.H.M.H. has been arrested in connection with a missing transmission. According to mechanic Allan Stuart, late last week he had been working on a Toyota Four Runner at the K.H.M.H. garage but when he popped the hood on Saturday afternoon, he realized that the transmission, valued at four thousand dollars, had been removed. Subsequent investigations into the incident led police to Percival Joseph, a security guard and driver at the hospital. Joseph has since been charged with theft.