Gold panning has evolved into one of the two primary threats to the integrity of the Chiquibul. It’s a high level risk within the national park because of the ruggedness of the terrain and the distance to reach the southern part of the protected area where the illegal activity occurs. Manzanero told News Five that […]
Burglaries have been on the rise in the Rural Eastern Division – and it is no secret that the jurisdiction is understaffed and under-resourced. Simply put it is a large area that requires more boots on the ground and more resources needed to fight crime. The spike in burglaries and other major crimes in the […]
There was murder in the City on Monday night, within days of the Easter holidays. Thirty-nine-year-old Rafael Mario Guerra, a Salvadoran national was walking on Holy Emmanuel Street when he was executed at about seven-thirty. The construction worker left home after receiving a text, but did not make it far when his life was snuffed […]
Three cops remain on interdiction tonight following investigations into their alleged involvement in contraband activity up north; we say alleged because while amateur footage captured the officers in the act, they have only been disciplined, and not criminally charged. Tonight, the fate of Police Constables Jorge Ascurio of the Orange Walk Formation and Elston Rojas […]
The recent saga of three cops and a special constable caught on video in separate incidents of contraband at the Northern Border in Orange Walk and Corozal respectively has caught national attention. And while many have lamented the fresh black eyes for the Police Department, an alternative view has been raised by the Belize Chamber […]
On Monday night, police responded to a report of a fire at Ladyville R.C School where the lower flat of a two-storey building was engulfed in flames. Quick action by the Fire Service contained and extinguished the fire. The fire, which was deliberately set, destroyed the principal’s office and thousands of dollars in machines and […]
On Friday, police made a belated announcement of disciplinary proceedings against a police constable and a special constable based in Orange Walk, who were accused of illegally contrabanding items at the Rio Hondo/Botes crossing. Police Constable Jorge Ascurio of the Orange Walk Formation was charged for acting in prejudice to good order and discipline and […]
A Corozal family is grappling with an explosion of violence at their home over the weekend that has landed a husband and wife in hospital and her father in possible legal trouble. The allegation at its center, however, is that the husband, Gabriel Zelaya, continuously abused his wife, leading to her father, Armando Cobb, having […]
A family deep in prayer was caught by stray bullets on Sunday night at their Antelope Street house in Belize City. Miguel Alpuche Junior and his mother, Ignacia, were offering prayers on the first anniversary of the death of Alpuche Senior when gunshots interrupted the solemn celebration. A third family member was fortunate and was […]
Just after seven on Sunday morning, shots rang out on Rivero Street, near Kraal Road on south side Belize City. Reports are that as twenty-one-year-old Earlin Butler Junior stood outside his house near the intersection of Rivero and Fairweather Streets, a lone gunman approached and opened fire on the unsuspecting youth. Butler Junior was hit […]
Several other persons remain critically injured at medical facilities across the country following separate shooting incidents on Saturday in the west and south. The first shooting took place near the Eight and Eight Restaurant on Bishop Martin Street in San Elena. Police, who responded to reports of shots fired in the area, would discover a […]
Two Belize City men will spend the next five and a half years in jail and Belmopan police are looking for a third after solving a robbery reported last Friday afternoon. Twenty-eight year old Florentino Ruiz of Police Street and Abraham Vellos of Racoon Street were convicted this afternoon in the Belmopan Magistrate’s Court of […]
An early morning fire over the weekend was put out by quick action of the property owners and the Fire Department. In the early hours of Saturday morning, seventy-two-year-old Robert Ramclam Senior was awakened by a noise in his shop on Maskall Street in Belize City. He saw a man running away and the front […]
Moments ago, the Police Department issued notice that a cop from Orange Walk and a volunteer special constable will face disciplinary measures from the department in relation to a video of contraband activity in the Botes area of Orange Walk. Police Constable Jorge Ascurio of the Orange Walk Formation was charged for acting in prejudice […]
The San Pedro, Ambergris Caye woman at the center of the brutality that led to police confronting civilians on the island early on Saturday morning has come forward to the press. However, she has asked that her full name not be disclosed. Police Corporals Norman Coye and Darnell Madrill are attached to the Quick Response […]
In the immediate aftermath of the gunfire, the woman says she was forgotten for the moment. But after things cleared up, she was taken home by other cops and did not face any charges. Police wanted to speak to her but on Monday, Assistant Commissioner of Police Keith Lino, the commander of the Professional Standards […]
An elderly farmer is lucky to have escaped what had to have been a traumatic experience on Thursday, during which a trio of armed men visited his place of employment on the outskirts of Cowpen Village. The men whose faces were concealed, arrived at the farm around eight o’clock in the morning and asked for […]
Gold panning within the depths of the Chiquibul Forest remains an illicit activity, one that is continuously being carried out by Guatemalan extractors who cross over into Belizean territory in search of the precious mineral. Earlier this week, a team of FCD rangers encountered a group of men sorting through sediments for gold nuggets in […]
Seventy-nine-year-old pastor Florencio Guillermo Bardalez of the San Ignacio Baptist Church was brutally murdered on his farm in Esperanza Village on Monday night. Tonight, thirty-five-year-old Gabriel Cunil, a resident of Esperanza, was arraigned for the murder of the elderly man. Bardalez’s body was found under a tree on his farm; he had been beaten badly […]
Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie has directed a formal investigation by Professional Standards Branch into a video which first surfaced six weeks ago. The footage obtained by News Five shows police officers, assisted by “run-men” from the area, carrying contraband items up from the Rio Hondo, near the Botes-Santa Cruz river crossing, to a police […]
The Belize Police Department continues its media offensive tonight, in the wake of disturbing footage of officers shooting indiscriminately at residents in San Pedro on Saturday morning. The department has been doing damage control since the video went viral. In the aftermath of the mayhem on Barrier Reef Drive, a press brief was convened by […]
PCs Coye and Madrill are on interdiction following their arraignment in the San Pedro Magistrate’s Court. The gun-toting officers, specifically Police Constable Norman Coye, wounded as many as five persons when he discharged his service firearm unto the pavement during the scuffle. Enfield Henry Garcia was struck in the left eye by fragments of a […]
Amateur video captured by spectators during the disturbance shows an unnamed female patron being manhandled by the responding officers, despite being handcuffed and subdued on the ground. She was hit multiple times to the head and kicked, even as she was manacled while on the ground. She is also seen squirming on the pavement, but […]
Former head of the Gang Suppression Unit, Senior Superintendent of Police Marco Vidal, who has been operating under the radar for some time, returns to Belize City on July first, as Commander of Eastern Division South. He will formally replace Assistant ComPol Chester Williams who is destined for the Professional Standards Branch in Belmopan. The […]
News Five’s count of murders since the start of 2017 shows an increase over the same period last year. Thirty-nine murders have been reported up to today, compared to thirty-four at this time last year. January started with four murders in three days, but only nine incidents were reported compared to thirteen last year. In […]
