Arrests made in two city burglaries

When City Hall was burglarized early Friday morning with no signs of forced entry, it was concluded that the heist had to be an “inside job”. Today thirty-three year old Shirley Arzu, a security guard on duty at the time, was arraigned in Magistrate’s Court for the burglary. According to court reports, Lloydia Flowers, Acting Manager of the Belize City Council, reported to police that on June sixteenth, that her office had been burglarized and that seventeen hundred Belize dollars was missing from her cash pan. After police concluded their investigations, they detained Arzu who appeared before Magistrate Margaret Gabb this morning, where she pleaded not guilty to the charge. She was granted bail of three-thousand dollars and the case was adjourned to the eighth of August.

Also in Magistrate’s Court today, twenty-eight year old Zhong Quan Wu, a cook at Chon Saan Palace, was charged following a burglary at his boss’s office on Nurse Seay Street in Belize City. According to Lee Mark Chang, sometime around eleven on Tuesday night, Wu forced his way inside his office and stole six thousand nine hundred U.S. dollars in cash, fifteen hundred U.S. dollars in traveller’s cheques and a total of eight thousand Belize dollars in cash. Chang reported the matter to the police who then proceeded to search Zhong’s house where they found six thousand one hundred Belize dollars in cash, approximately twenty five hundred U.S. dollars and thirteen traveller’s cheques hidden in the ceiling. Zhong was charged with one count of burglary and one count of handling stolen goods. He was granted bail of ten thousand dollars, plus a surety of the same value, in addition to surrendering his passport.