7 News Belize

Daylight Holdup At Heritage Bank Nets 40k
posted (August 25, 2014)
Tonight, $40,000 belonging to Heritage Bank is gone, and police are trying to locate the men who robbed the bank in a brazen daylight heist. It happened this morning at around 9, where the robbers marched into the Bank's Barrack Road office, calmly walked behind the counter and removed two of the cash pans loaded with money.

Police arrived shortly after, and so did our news team. Daniel Ortiz reports:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
This morning, law enforcement streamed in an out of Providence Bank on the corner of Barrack Road and Craig Street. Less than an hour before, there had been a brazen robbery in which 2 men, one of them armed, managed to escape with 2 cash pans from one of the cashiers on duty.

The bank is around the corner from Precinct 3 headquarters and police were quick to respond; they arrived 2 minutes after they got the call.

Insp. Santiago Ciau - OC, CIB, Precinct 3
"This morning about 9:15 am we received information of a robbery in progress at the Provident Bank on Barrack Road. About 9:13am or 9:14am two male persons entered the Provident Bank requesting to see the cashier. The cashier was called out, but before she could have approached this person, the person went right into her cubicle, pulled out the bottom draw, took out a red and a black cash pan and make his way out. In that process she was being chased by the cashier telling him that he cannot take these cash pans with him. The other male person then pulled out a .38 revolver and point it at them and say do not move, this is a robbery. The guys left the building with two cash pans, he point the security guard closer to a counter and gun butted him three time and order him to lie on the floor, then the robber left. The security then made chase and he caught them boarding a van that they use to escape from the scene."

Police currently have a van impounded, it is believed that it was used as the get-away vehicle in this robbery.

That vehicle was located a short while after the robbery. Amateur footage captured by a civilian who was in the area at the time, shows the flurry of activity from the officers who swarmed to respond to the robbery in progress. They made their way to Majestic Alley, in pursuit of one of the suspects.

The robbers managed to get away with approximately 40 thousand dollars.

Insp. Santiago Ciau - OC, CIB, Precinct 3
"In regards to the cash pan, I would look at it roughly about 40K stolen."

Important points of note is that to get inside the bank, one of the security guards had to buzz the men in. The investigator's believed that this was the reason why they asked to speak with a cashier, pretending to have legitimate business. Police are looking closely at the possibility that it could have been an inside job because the men knew exactly where the cash pans were located.

Also, the bank has a number of surveillance cameras, which police have reviewed. They believe that they've identified one of the assailants, and are searching for him. 7News has been informed also that the responding officers found an identification card of a man who's been charged before bank cheque fraud.

The van was found on Santa Barbara Street in the Lake Independence area which is across town from the bank.

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