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It took Ladyville Police seven hours to remove a hefty stash of stolen items recovered from behind a church, of all places. The church is in the Rhaburn Ridge area at mile 30 on the Northern Highway. Police believe the items recovered were stashed by a ring of burglars from break-ins that occurred in the Ladyville Village and surrounding areas. The good news is that tonight they have one suspect is detained pending charges while others are being sought.

The stolen property recovered is considered one of the largest finds in recent memory from the Belize District and it includes a range of items from weapons to an ATV. Today 7News spoke with one of the investigating officers who credits the find to an improved system that has been combating the increase of robberies and burglaries in the area.

Jacqueline Godwin,
“Corporal, the items that were found were they all discovered at one location and do the police believe that they are all as a result of one burglary?”

Cpl. Jorge Lemus, Ladyville Police
“Yes all the items were found at a specific location in Rhaburn Ridge Village, that’s in the Belize District and they are not one burglary, there were several burglaries that took place. We found the ATV motorcycle with serial number unknown. We found a twelve gauge pump action shotgun along with three cartridges. We found a power saw, a chain saw. We found a full deejay system that was reported stolen from the Ladyville Community Center. For that have one suspect detained at this time and we are looking for other suspects. Charges will follow as a result of that discovery.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
“So the properties recovered, you believe are as a result of separate incidents?”

Cpl. Jorge Lemus,
“Yes separate incidents in Ladyville.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
“And you believe one individual or more than one persons are involved in all of these incidents?”

Cpl. Jorge Lemus,
“We have more than one persons we are seeking at this time and that brings us to believe that there is a group, there is a ring here in Ladyville.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
“Besides the ATV we were hoping to show some of the items that have been recovered in the hope that if someone sees it they could come and identify it but we were told we were unable to do that. Why?”

Cpl. Jorge Lemus,
“Jackie at this time we are sorting out the items. Some of them are exhibits in certain cases and we don’t want to jeopardize the case at this time.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
“The burglaries you believe all occurred here in Ladyville and surrounding areas?””

Cpl. Jorge Lemus,
“Yes Ladyville and the surrounding areas.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
“How serious is the problem of break-ins up here?”

Cpl. Jorge Lemus,
“Well now that the Christmas season is around the bend, we are seeing that there is a rise in burglaries and also we want to assure the Ladyville residents that the Ladyville Police Sub-formation under the command of Inspector Calbert Flowers, we are going to be stepping up our patrols, we are doing anti-crime that is around the bend, the anti-crime patrols, and we want to assure them that we will be doing our best to keep these burglaries at a minimum.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
“The suspect that is detained, do you believe him to be a strong suspect?”

Cpl. Jorge Lemus,
“Yes he is a strong suspect and charges will follow.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
“Why is he strong?”

Cpl. Jorge Lemus,
“Because he is well known to the Ladyville Police as a burglar and we have evidence to show that we have charges to follow.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
“But definitely more than one person is involved.”

Cpl. Jorge Lemus,
“Yes more than one person is involved.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
“And do you believe the suspects that are being sought may be involved in other robberies and burglaries that have been occurring in the village?”

Cpl. Jorge Lemus,
“Well at this time we are following leads and with the help of the community, I want to stress on that, we need the help of the community so that we can crack more of these cases that we have reported here at Ladyville. But at this time we must give a good shoutout to the community because they are communicating with us and are giving us leads which we will act on. We must also thank the Special Branch officer that we have here in Ladyville. He is doing an awesome job at this time.”

7News was allowed to video the dark green cougar 325 ATV because according to Corporal Jorge Lemus the owner could not present any proof of ownership and so it is suspected to be stolen. The stolen items include, a Mossberg twelve gauge pump action shot gun, and ammunition, 1 green and yellow john deer chain saw, one black Odyssey brand case containing two Gemini disc players and a sound mixer. If you suspect any of the items to be your property contact the Ladyville Police Station.