By Aaron Humes: An armed robbery at a vape store on Monday evening led to a swift response from law enforcement, culminating in the arrest of two suspects just minutes after the crime. However, the $23,000 in cash stolen during the heist remains unaccounted for.
The robbery unfolded around 6:14 PM, shortly after a significant cash delivery was made to the store. According to the store owner, who chose to remain anonymous, a delivery was arranged because he was out of the country. “I asked the guy to please deliver it to the store and at approximately 6:11 he dropped off the funds and around 6:14 I would say that’s when the robbers had [come] in and stole the cash; between 3-4 minutes,” he revealed in a phone interview with Channel 7 News.
The suspects, since identified as 26-year-old Kenroy Daly and Ahkeem Danderson, entered the store wearing helmets and shades. Crucially, per the store owner, “We usually don’t let people enter the establishment when they come in with a helmet or a cap or a shades, however, he opened it very quickly because he saw it was police.”
Except they weren’t, as real police responded to the emergency call and chased and bravely faced gunfire from the robbers. Officers managed to apprehend both individuals and recover their firearms shortly thereafter. Both suspects now face multiple charges, including robbery, aggravated assault with a firearm, and various firearm-related offenses.
But the money has yet to be recovered. Subsequent reporting by Channel 7 News suggests that a customer dropped off a payment for a car. That cash formed the bulk of the stolen money. In the process of their investigation – police have detained that car buyer, who has still not gotten the car he paid for.
Meanwhile, CEO in the Ministry of Home Affairs Rear Admiral Elton Bennett told reporters that the Government is moving against those seeking to imitate and impersonate national security personnel, including police: “…it’s an issue that is actively under review. We have a draft bill, to strengthen our laws as relates to the uniform of the security services. That is, being reviewed by the Minister of Home Affairs, along with the Minister of Defense. The National Security Council has already reviewed that, that submission. And so we are looking at, with how we can strengthen the laws as relates to the uniform of our security forces. So that indeed is a is a concern. We have seen crime committed in the past, of officer impersonation. And we want to ensure that the, the penalty for doing so, is increased to the extent of deterring individuals from, from that behavior.”
He added that it has so far not been determined whether the items used by the robbers came from any past or present member of the Department.
The post Police responded quickly to armed robbery at vape store, but $23,000 still missing appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Aaron Humes: An armed robbery at a vape store on Monday evening led to a swift response from law enforcement, culminating in the arrest of two suspects just minutes after the crime. However, the $23,000 in cash stolen during the heist remains unaccounted for. The robbery unfolded around 6:14 PM, shortly after a significant
The post Police responded quickly to armed robbery at vape store, but $23,000 still missing appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
