Thousands of dollars of your Social Security dollars were stolen by armed bandits in yesterday’s robbery at the Social Security Board’s branch office in Belize City. How much was stolen? The Social Security Board refuses to say but one report puts it at less than a hundred thousand dollars. But the robbers grabbed up all that money in 62 seconds. That’s right – it took only 62 seconds for the armed men to pull off the daring heist. It was all caught on camera but the Social Security Board isn’t releasing the video. They however made their first public comment about the robbery today. Here is what they had to say.
Keith Swift Reporting,
Today a security guard was posted at the back door of the Social Security Board’s Office on Princess Margaret Drive. The metal door, which is usually locked but was mysteriously opened yesterday, is the entrance the two armed robbers used yesterday when they barged in.
Marianela Vasquez Guerra, Manager – Customer Relations
“They came in, it was two of them that came in, and they held up some
of our co-workers, the cashiers, and they escaped with the money.”
Keith Swift,
“Are any employees under investigation in connection with this robbery?”
Marianela Vasquez Guerra,
“We are leaving that to the police, the police is at this moment provided with all the information. We have surveillance cameras, the tapes are being reviewed by police so it is too early for us to tell what happened so we are leaving the police to do their investigation.”
Keith Swift,
“Do we know how much money was stolen?”
Marianela Vasquez Guerra,
“Yes we do however we’ve decided that we don’t want to say how much it is, it is undisclosed at this time.”
Although the Social Security Board refuses to say how much money was stolen,
it could have been substantial. That is because yesterday was due date, the day when employers pay their Social Security contributions. So it is safe to assume that yesterday the Social Security collected and accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Marianela Vasquez Guerra,
“It was a busy day for us. Yesterday the 14th is the deadline for contribution payments for employers to come in and make their contribution payments. It fell on a weekend so Monday is when most of the employers came in to pay. So yes we had a lot of collections yesterday. However one of our policy is that we make several deposits during the day so as not to have enough cash at the office.”
Keith Swift,
“Would a large amount of these payments have been made in cash or was it in checks?”
Marianela Vasquez Guerra,
“We have cash and we have checks. At this point in time I really don’t have that information to give you but yes it is cash and as well checks.”
Keith Swift,
“And a large portion of this money would have already been deposited?”
Marianela Vasquez Guerra,
“Yes that is right, we make several deposits when it is peak days. Once we see money accumulating, we deposit that directly to the bank.”
According to the Social Security Board’s Manager of Customer Relations Services Marianela Vasquez Guerra all contributions will be honoured by the Social Security Board.
Marianela Vasquez Guerra,
“Your contribution payments is safe with us. The incident that happened yesterday in no way is going to affect the contributions paid to Social Security.”
Of course thousands of dollars of your Social Security money was stolen. But Guerra says the focus now is on ensuring that your contributions won’t be vulnerable again.
Marianela Vasquez Guerra,
“We are all coming together to ensure that this does not happen, to find ways of how to avoid this happening again.”
The Social Security Board’s CEO Merlene Bailey Martinez told us this morning that the money is covered with insurance and more importantly that once the funds were deducted from your employer and paid in to the Social Security Board, it becomes their responsibility – meaning, their loss, not yours. The ordeal left employees traumatized and counselling will be offered to those who request or require it.
