Tonight the BDF's Headquarters at Price Barracks is a crime scene under intense scrutiny after 42 guns were stolen last night.
The only good news is that not all of the weapons were working, but seven M4 Carbine rifles and eleven 9 millimeter pistols are working, and tonight they are unaccounted for and most certainly in the hands of criminals.
It is a deeply disturbing development - and the grim discovery was made this morning at Price Barracks in Ladyville at what is known at a building known as the weapons bulk store which is at the rear of the facility.
How did the force that is supposed to protect our country prove to be unable to protect even their own guns? Those are the questions they had to face at a late evening press conference today:
Lt. Col. Javier Castellanos - 2nd In Charge of BDF
"Our initial investigations have revealed that a total of 22 times M-16 A-1 rifles, which are unserviceable, 2 times M4 commando rifles, also unserviceable, 11 times 9 millimeter Beretta pistols, which are serviceable, and 7 times M4 carbines which are serviceable, they are reported missing from the weapons bulk store, which gives a total of 44 weapons missing, being 31 of them, rifles, and 11 pistols. Of these 7 of the rifles are serviceable, and 11 pistols are serviceable. The facility lies within one of the sectors which is patrolled, a 24 hour vigilance, within the sector, but not exactly 24 hours to the facility itself. This weapon bulk store is used mostly to store unserviceable weapons, and in this case, weapons which are not issued to the regular units, which are about to be issued - secured there prior to being issued to the particular unit which will receive this weapon."
Marisol Amaya - KREM News
"I was told that some of those weapons are new - particularly the 9 millimeters."
Lt. Col. Javier Castellanos
"Yes, as I said, it is used to store weapons prior - when we receive them, they are taken there, put on a ledger, accounted for, and then issued out to a unit."
Allen Whylie - CEO, Ministry of Defense
"The visit to the building revealed that two of the locks are missing, and the hasp and staple, were cut. And so, entry was gained into 2 of the 5 rooms. The weapons were kept within those rooms, and they were under lock-and-key with a chain; the chain was also cut, and the weapons were removed. So, entry was made into the building forcibly, not by use of the key. The building has a perimeter fence; the fence was not intact. There is hole at the back of the fence. I don't know if that occurred as a result of the persons gaining entry."
Lt. Col. Javier Castellanos
"With regards to the security of this installation, as in any installation, security is an expensive venture. Security comes in layers. It depends on how much you have to spend - the finance - and it's an installation that we took over from the British Forces. To date, it has not been properly surveyed. There are areas in this camp which have been breached before. Civilians enter. It's difficult to keep them out. We have the swamps - the marshes - to the back. We have the fences which deteriorate over the years. It's an expensive venture. It is difficult to patrol and secure the perimeter of the fence."
Jose Sanchez - Channel 5 News
"With the evidence that you've explained and provided, are you willing to at least admit that clearly there has to be some sort of collusion from within the compound, from the BDF itself?"
Allen Whylie - CEO, Ministry of Defense
"Well, it's difficult for me to say that at this preliminary stage. It's obvious that any soldier, any ex-soldier, will know that weapons are stored at that facility. So I cannot say at this point in time that there had to be collusion within the BDF. It is known from within."
Inspector Hilberto Romero - 2nd in Charge, CIB Belize City
"We are now conducting our interviews and recording statements, but at this point, we are not leaving anything - we have no specific leads, however, we are looking at all angles to see who are the perpetrators of this crime. And hopefully, we will have more information as the investigation unfolds."
Allen Whylie - CEO, Ministry of Defense
"It is a serious breach that has occurred because this is a military facility, and such (a thing) should not have occurred. That is as far as I would go in terms of assigning the blame."
At the end of the press conference no one was able to say when last the facility was checked - only that it is checked once a week and that it was discovered this morning.
So, to recap, 7 working rifles and 11 working pistols were stolen, along with 24 unserviceable rifles.
No one has been detained and there are no suspects at this time...
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