$100,000, that's the un-official count for yesterday's daring armed robbery of the Scotia Bank Branch in Dangriga Town. But loss of money hardly compares to a gunshot injury and the trauma of a hold up and that's what those who lived through the hold-up are dealing with today. Today, Alfonso Noble spoke to the Courts deliveryman who was inside the bank when the robbers stormed in. He was shot and today he told Alfonso Noble his story.
Alfonso Noble Reporting, Email - [alfnoble@yahoo.com]
Two guards stood at the Dangriga Scotia Bank entrance this afternoon even as the bank was closed for business today after yesterday afternoon's robbery. 26-year-old Courts employee Marlon Ramos was inside the bank at the time of the robbery. He recalls when two masked men, brandishing assault rifles entered and just opened fire.
Marlon Ramos, Shooting Victim
"Two persons came in and stomped open the door and fired off a shot and I got hit. They told everybody to get down on the ground and then I just went on the ground. When they entered, I was facing the wall and my back was to the teller. So when the robbers came in I turned around and I went to the ground and I felt something sting me. I went down and I put my hand over my ears until they were gone. They went to the back, I heard noise to the back, and they were making noise and then they came back through the front."
Alfonso Noble,
What kind of gun did they have?
Marlon Ramos,
"Police don't have those kinds of gun. I am not sure what type but I saw the gun and police don't have that gun."
Alfonso Noble,
They were shouting?
Marlon Ramos,
"After they left everybody asked if everybody is okay and I told somebody get shot. So they called the police and same time I heard a second shot fired outside. I looked outside and I saw a green vehicle, that's all I saw."
One man who conducts his business just a few houses down from the bank and who wished not to be identified or appear on camera recalls that same vehicle as well as some shots that had been fired about 10 minutes prior to the robbery itself.
Eyewitness to Robbery,
"The shooting began a the bank, I think they unloaded a magazine. People were confused because people thought the person was drinking and was shooting. When I came out people were running. Then it quieted down for about ten minutes and then they came through the bank. People thought it was both the Belize Bank and the Scotia Bank but it was only Scotia Bank that was robbed. They came out shooting down the road and the people hid. It was a tinted Suzuki where four people can fit in, the color was green. The plates well it was white and the number...I don't think anyone saw it."
That vehicle is believed to be this one that was abandoned and burnt about a mile and a half from the citrus factory that is located 14 miles outside of Dangriga Town. While police were today in the area hoping to follow this lead, Marlon Ramos who showed us his blood stained shirt where the bullet had entered and existed was visibly relieved that he survived the attack.
Marlon Ramos,
"It could have been worse because if I had faced them directly like how I am facing you, they would have shot me in my chest and I wouldn't have made it. I am more than lucky to be alive. Luck is not the word to describe it."
The branch was closed today as bank employees received counseling. Dangriga police have launched an aggressive investigation but so far no one has been charged.