Just 8 weeks ago, on March 2nd, the Belize Bank branch office in Orange Walk Town was held up and robbers made off with $30,000.
All the suspects were caught and one robber was killed in the street but even with that chilling example, it seems that in a desperate criminal culture the lure of big money is just too great. And that's what pulled armed robbers to the Belize Bank branch Office at mile 1 on the Northern highway this morning. In broad daylight and in brazen fashion two men walked into the bank, pulled off a partially foiled robbery and made a clean get away. 7NEWS was on the scene.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
At around 10:40 this morning the Belize Bank branch office at mile 1 on the Northern highway came under siege. Two masked gunmen entered the bank and demanded money.
G. Michael Reid, Police Press Officer
"Two masked men, one armed with a shotgun and the other with a short firearm, entered the bank and put the security guards to lay on the floor and proceeded to rob the bank."
Alfonso Noble,
"Anybody injured? Any shots fired?
G. Michael Reid,
"As far as we understand no shots were fired and no one was injured. We understand that one of the individuals did pull the trigger on his gun but that seemed to have snapped."
Alfonso Noble,
"Who was he aiming at?"
G. Michael Reid,
"I understand he was pointing at the security guard at that point."
In their hurried getaway, they dropped a trail of $5 notes that marked their exit route. As they scaled this fence at the rear of the bank, one of the men dropped this blue cap. From there they cut across the 8yard behind the bank threatening the woman who lives in the yard with the shotgun. They ran to a gray-blue ford tempo car that was waiting for them. Reid says that the men got away with money but the quantity is yet to be ascertained.
Alfonso Noble,
"Do you know how much money they made off with if any at all?"
G. Michael Reid,
"At this point we don't know. There were some small bills. In fact a number of small bills in the back of the bank left a trail as to where the robbers ran after their exited the bank."
And while the amount of money that the men made off with is yet to be determined there is the larger issue of security at the bank where there was no armed security guard. Reid concedes that two masked gunmen fearlessly entering a bank in broad daylight is some cause for concern.
G. Michael Reid,
"We believe that there needs to be more security. Security outside the perimeter of the building needs to be secure. A bigger part of that also is that we need to be looking out for each other. Certainly these people did not enter from out of the blue, they had to have walked over here from some point and we would have expected someone to see what was occurring and alert the police immediately. Obviously this was not done and we were not alerted until the alarm went off and someone from inside the bank raised the alarm."
Now police are left only with guesses as to who the robbers are on this second robbery of a Belize Bank office.
The robbers only managed to clean out two drawers and while the figure has not been finalized, they didn't get off with a lot of money.