The Toyota Camry is the most frequently stolen car in Belize and tonight Ladyville police may have busted a major car theft ring. It's the find of a single stolen car's engine which has resulted in 5 arrests but from the looks of it this was a professional operation. We were in the Ladyville area investigating today.
What do this van, this stripped car, and this engine have in common? Well, rural police say they are all part of a stolen car operation and to tell you the story we have to start deep in the bushes north of Double Head Cabbage in the Belize River Valley. Take a picado road, through some treacherous mud holes and you'll arrive here - the middle of nowhere except for this Toyota Camry, or the remains of it, stowed away in the bushes - it's contents littering across the pine ridge bushes.
Ladyville's Officer in Charge Sergeant Chris Noble showed us the site and how thoroughly car thieves had dismantled the car. The car looks like an old wreck, cannibalized and condemned, left here to rot. But this car has only been here for three days. After they stole it in the city at about 3:00 am, they drove it here, and arrived at about 4:00 on Saturday morning. They then stripped with ruthless efficiency, in a chop shop set up right here in the middle of the bush.
Bermudian Landing Police found it here on Saturday evening with only the wheels missing. By the time they came back on Sunday, the car strippers had returned and pulled out the entire engine and thoroughly stripped the car, destroying what they couldn't safely remove like the rear window, and leaving contents like this doll and the car seats on the outside.
It's a display of ruthless criminal efficiency but in this case it's been outmatched by the investigative efficiency of the rural police who caught the car thieves on the make. They were stuffed into this van, all 5 of them, including two minors, crowded in with this engine. That's when Ladyville Police pulled them over at the checkpoint.
Sgt. Chris Noble, O.C., Ladyville Police
"On Sunday the officers at the Northern checkpoint along with an officer here from the station intercepted a vehicle at the checkpoint in the Burrell Boom Area. The vehicle had five occupants and when we checked it contained what we believed was a Toyota Camry engine and we believe it may have come from the vehicle that was stolen over the weekend in Belize City."
Police say that this area is often used to stow and strip stolen cars like this other Toyota Camry found submerged in water at a sand pit at St. Paul's Bank a couple weeks ago. This one was also condemned but at least the car thieves left in the engine, even if they did take the wheels and the door panels. Police tell us that areas such as these secluded, yet accessible by those who know the lay of the land and close to the city are often set up as back a di bush chop shops. But now this capture, recovery and arrest may put a dent in that action.
Sgt. Chris Noble,
"I can't say for sure whether we intercepted a ring, we do know we have five persons, all from one area of the city, and as well as it might be, it might not."
Cautious optimism that matters not to this car owner who had a working car until midnight on Saturday and now only has an engine, a battered car frame, and memories littering the bushes.
Today in court, 23-year-old Samuel Noel Nicholas who is a mechanic and Egbert Jones both 23 years old appeared in court charged for theft. They pleaded not guilty also appearing were the three other passengers in the vehicle. Two minors along with Andre Hernandez were charged with handling stolen goods and damage to property. All five got bail of $5,000 each. The car is believed to have been stolen and driven away by one of the 16-year-old minors.
