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More than $26,000 was stolen in yesterday’s armed robbery at the Belize Marketing and Development Corporation, which was formerly the Belize Marketing Board. We stress that it is more than $26,000 because BMDC Director Roque Mai told us this evening that in addition to the $18,000 in cash and $7,000 in checks which were from the day sales of onions, the gunman also went with the deposit bags for rice sales from Tuesday and Wednesday. Mai says they are still trying to determine how much cash and checks were in the deposit bags for rice sales.

As we told you last night, a gunman entered the BMDC office on North Front Street around after 4:00 yesterday and held up the cashier. She was behind a window but at gunpoint he forced her to let him into the accounts room and that’s where he grabbed the deposit bags and then fled the office and what is normally a secure compound.

We say secured because the BMDC office is located in a government building on North Front Street and as was reported last night, the office is next door to the Conscious Youth Development Program’s office where a number of former police officers work. Only one officer was there at the time and – get this – the young man who was sent to tell him about the robbery is speech impaired.

With that and other evidence, there is a suggestion that it was an inside job. Mai told us that is a question to ask the police. We did and head of Crimes Investigation Branch Julio Valdez told us that they are looking at all angles. He said that no one was detained.