On Saturday, Bangladeshi businessman, Abdush Salam, was found dead in his home on Orange Street in Belize City. According to reports, Salam - who has no family in Belize - left his store at the Novelo's Bus Terminal sometime around 1 on Saturday afternoon and went home to eat lunch. That was the last time he was seen alive. About 6 hours later, one of his roommates found him lying on his bed, face down and nude with his hands tied behind his back. Police were called to the scene and are currently looking for at least one suspect. The police held a press conference and gave us the details of the investigation so far.
ASP Alejandro Cowo, OC - CIB
"On Saturday night, the 1st July, 2017 sometime after 6pm police visited a 3 story building located at #4 Orange Street where they search the second floor of the building and inside one of the rooms police found the motionless body of a naked person who was later identified as Abdush Salam, a Bangladesh national businessman of the same address. He was found facing down with his hands tie up to his back. The police check the room and nothing was stolen from inside of the room. There was no force entry into the apartment itself. The persons that were living likewise with the deceased were interviewed and statements have been recorded from them so far."
"What we have gathered so far is that he had opened his shop Saturday morning. His shop is located at the old Novelos Bus terminal. He worked there until sometime after 1:30 and he left from there. That was the last time that he was seen alive."
"We have other information that we are following up at this time, but we cannot disclose the names of the person that we suspect at this moment. There was no bruises or any physical violence that we could have observed on the body. We suspect that he was maybe strangle or choked to death."
A post mortem on Salam's body was completed this afternoon, and the cause of death has been confirmed to be manual strangulation, which lines up with police's suspicions. Police are currently using security footage from the surrounding buildings to locate a suspect, who allegedly left Salam's apartment building sometime after 4 on Saturday.
As we noted he had no family here in Belize - and was brought to Belize two years ago with his four other roommates from Bangladesh to work in Belize.
