Tonight, police keep looking for Ricardo Borja's killers - and to do that they must unravel the very complicated business affairs of this Land Consultant - who dabbled in many sectors, from real estate, to property management - in fact, he even owned a boutique.
But, one thing police investigators probably aren't looking too closely at is the small armory of guns he'd accumulated. And that's because those weapons were licensed under the sole discretion of their boss, the commissioner of police.
7News has been investigating this unusual accumulation of firepower and tonight Jules Vasquez has more proof of the ten gun licenses he told us about lats night:
These are the photos on file for 8 of the 10 guns that Commissioner Chester Williams licensed for 27-year-old murder victim Ricardo Borja between March 2021 and July 2022.
In fact, July, 2022 was especially active: Borja got three guns licensed in just 8 days: a 7 MM bolt action Rifle on July 18, and 8 days later on the 26th, a 9 MM pistol, and a.223 rifle - those two on the same day.
It was a busy week for Borja - on July 19th he also bought this 2021 Toyota Tacoma from a car dealer in Belmopan for a reported 87,000 dollars.
That was one of his fleet of vehicles - probably the least expensive - and these July guns were only 3 in what amounted to a small armory - so vast that he casually left this high-powered rifle, complete with laser scope and sniper tripod in the back seat of his pickup.
The letters of authorization for these special protection licenses are all signed by the Commissioner of Police - and he says they are all justified for a legitimate businessman:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Certainly, the young man did produce good credentials of being a legitimate businessman, engaged in different activities business wise and based on that, in my judgement, I issued the gun license, I have no remorse in issuing that."
No remorse, and despite all these weapons at his disposal when a killer ambushed him on August 19th, Borja, sadly, didn't have time to draw any of them - even though he knew there was a looming threat:
Ricardo Borja, Deceased
"I have two daughters, right. And the reason why like I told (name excerpted) if shit hit the fan. I'm going to talk, because I'm not going to be the same idiot where I'm just going to be taken a fool of, I'm just going to sink myself, I think it hasn't hit the fan; I think it hit the fan when it's out there."
The Commissioner of Police has not responded to our requests for comment, but his boss has. Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa told us today, quote, "under the current firearm license regime the issuance of licenses and the number of licenses are matters entirely in the discretion of the person holding the title of commissioner of police. It is however expected that the new board, once commissioned, will place a limit on the number of licenses that any one person can hold." End quote.
We also asked him if he considers it anomalous that so many licenses should have been issued to one individual, and Musa said, quote, "I personally don't see the need for so many but I am aware that some individuals are farmers/sport hunters." End quote.
And as for Frick De Meyere - the real estate agent who police had detained for questioning about the murder - his attorney confirmed, quote, "He was released this evening around 4:15pm as there's no evidence linking him to the murder." End quote.
In a posthumous recording, Borja had named De Meyere as being involved in certain suspect land dealing with him.
