It happened on Friday but the aftershocks of a daring bandit attack in extreme Western Belize are still being felt today. The first armed hold-up and robbery occurred around eight thirty on Friday morning. Forty four year old taxi driver Uvildo Howe was travelling in his cab when he and his passenger twenty eight year old William Ruiz were ambushed by four armed men.
Howe told police that the men who were all Hispanics emerged from some nearby bushes with what appeared to be rifles and pistols. The men also used rags to cover their nose and mouth. The gunmen stopped their vehicle and ordered them to drive onto a nearby feeder road. The men searched Howe and Ruiz and stole a Casio watch, cap, wallet, cell phone and one hundred and fifty dollars in cash. According to the victims, the men who spoke only Spanish then quickly left the area.
Then two hours later on a farm just outside of Arenal, a group of 4 men were at Teresita Penados’s farm in a small wooden house when eight unmasked Hispanic men dressed in full black, carrying knapsacks and holding what believed to be M16’s and AK47 rifles held them up. The group of five was robbed of an assortment of jewellery, wrist watches, cell phones and cash. The robbers then escaped by running into some nearby bushes.
By that time police were in the area and saw two Hispanic men walking outside of the village in an open farm armed with what appeared to be M16 rifles. According to the police there was an exchange of gunfire but no one was injured and both bandits managed to escape in the bushes. Belize Police have been working with their Guatemalan counterparts but so far there have been no substantial leads.
Police have increased security in the area.
