Criminals take siege of school & popular hotel

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Burglars who had their eye on Queen’s Square Anglican Primary School on Dolphin Street in Belize City made their move last night, but their timing was off because the loot they got away with was not much.

While the neighbours say they didn’t hear anything, the thieves had to break open all four door locks to gain entry into the main office, the computer lab and two infant one classrooms.  When they left, they took with them a five gallon of water, a fan, and a microphone that the school had just purchased.  They did write a message on a cubicle before leaving, which said: “leave money next time”.

Since the start of 2011, the school has been plagued by a number of break-ins.  The last time, thieves wiped out the computer lab.  With no night security posted at the school, keeping thieves out has been a constant battle for the teachers.  Now the school plans to appeal to the Ministry of Education to provide a security guard, a process that can take another period of time which could likely allow thieves to return.

Luckily school officials had removed the proceeds of its fair held earlier this month, something which the burglars were apparently after.  Despite the fact that they got no money, the attack has caused created uneasiness among the children, who no longer want to leave their belongings at school for fear of another burglary.  It is not something parents will want to hear, but their children might just have to carry their books to and from school until the Ministry of Education does safeguard the school or the Police Department can provide more frequent patrols to deter future attacks.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday there was a report of a robbery on a compound of one of Belize’s City’s oldest hotels, Chateau Caribbean, but it never made it on the police blotter.  Sources within the Police Department confirmed that the incident occurred but that the victim, who is the owner of the hotel, chose not to make a formal police report for the sake of protecting her hotel’s image.

The thieves, two of them as we understand it, walked on the compound on Marine Parade and held up the owner and stole $800 in Belize currency and $75 in US notes and then left.  It reportedly happened in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, and several hours later, police were combing the area for two suspects who live nearby but came up empty-handed.

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