Tonight, a very dangerous criminal, 29 year-old Edwin Paula, who escaped from prison 3 months ago, is back behind bars after he was recaptured last night.
As we told you, Paula, who is charged with a slew of criminal offences including robbery and murder, was being transferred to Belmopan for a court hearing on February 3. He managed to pull a Houdini and escaped from a moving police van when it slowed down at a speed bump in Cotton Tree.
Since then, he's been on the run, but that came to an end last night when police got intelligence that he was in the Salvapan area of Belmopan. The Commanding officer from the Belmopan Police station explained his recapture to the media today:
Supt. Howell Gillett - OC, Belmopan Police
"We found that Mr. Edwin Paula was one of the persons who was pending to be recaptured. This morning shortly after 2 based on information we gathered we launched an operation in the Salvapan area where Mr. Edwin Paula, 30 years unemployed of San Martin area was found in a hotel the name I do not care to disclose, and he was in the company of one Martha Vasquez, nineteen-years-old. Both Mr. Paula has been charged for the escape which happened on the third of February of this year, in the village of Cotton Tree, and Ms. Martha Vasquez has been charged for harboring a criminal. Both of them have been taken to court. Mr. Paula was wanted, was charged in the past for the U.B. robbery which [netted] over forty-one thousand dollars. That occurred on the eighth of May of last year. He was also wanted for the murder of Isabel Antonio Vallona Carillo, a Salvadoran Belizean and that incident took place on June 2nd, 2013. Ever since the third of February he has been on the loose. We have been trying to get him but we were unable, but based on information from the public and we are very thankful to the public who supported us through this operation we were able to locate him and he was brought in without any incident."
Edwin Paula and 19 year-old Marta Vasquez were both arraigned before Magistrate Aretha Ford this morning. Paula was charged with escaping from lawful custody, and he was remanded to prison until July 14. Vasquez was charged with harbouring a fugitive, and she was remanded until August 26.
As you heard in our interview with the Commander, Paula is facing 3 counts of robbery and 1 count of murder for the attack on La Choza Bar last year, where Salvadoran Isabel Antonio Ballona was shot and killed.
He's additionally charged with firearms offences for that incident, and he's also facing 9 counts of aggravated burglary for the attack on the Dormitory at the University of Belize, in which the assailants managed to rob students of over $40,000 in cash, electronics and personal belongings.
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