At the end of 2019, we told you about a spate of carjackings that had occurred on the Arenal Road. At the time it seemed that cross border bandits were pressing into Belize and taking advantage of border communities.
Well, it happened again this morning, but, this time the police were ready, guns blazing. This morning at 9:10am, 60 year old Karl Nelson Bachmann was at his home in Arenal washing dishes when he heard his sheep making noise. As he was about to walk out of his house to make checks, five masked men, two of them with rifles, and two with revolvers, forced him back into his house. They held him at gunpoint and then ransacked his house asking Bachmann where ehe kept his firearm.
He had none, so they all the cash they could find and other items, and then left in his pickup.
Normally, that's the end of story, but as we showed you last month, police have sent additional reinforcements to the area to thwart cross border bandits.
And - with this incident, this morning those reinforcements were put to test. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams told us how the cops got the better of the bad guys this time around.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"This morning around sometime around 10am, police received information of a robbery through the Arenal Road. They responded where they encountered 4 armed bandits. The bandits fired at the police and the police return fire. The bandits had with them one stolen vehicle that they stole during the robbery and an assorted amount of items. The police was able to recover the stolen vehicle and all the items stolen. We also believe that two of the bandits were shot by the police but it occurred so close to the border that the two who were injured were picked up by the other two and they took them over the border and went about their business. We did not pursue because it is not Belize and we don't want our offices to go over that side and they are caught by the authorities from Guatemala."
"Again this goes to show that our efforts in the Arenal Area continue. We want to assure the people of Benque and Succotz that we will do our best to ensure that we prevent these bandits from coming across into our country and do as they please."
"The persons who were robbed, two were injured. They are currently at the hospital receiving treatment."
Reporter
"Are these believe to be the same persons responsible for that spate of car jackings in that area?"
Chester Williams
"Well it could be and it could not be. We don't have anything to say definitively it is them, but the modus operandi is practically the same."
Reporter
'What unit engaged them and what type of fire power was used in terms of with the standard police with .38 or was it a paramilitary unit with automatic rifles?"
Chester Williams
"In the Arenal area, after we had that spate of incidents we have stepped up our presence in Arenal. In the past we use to have two police, one regular and one paramilitary but now we have two paramilitary police and two B.D.F. The police in Arenal are armed with rifles as well as short arm so we are prepared for the battle."
Police have contacted their Guatemalan counterparts to inform them about the attempted robbery committed by the injured bandits.
Bachmann was hospitalized for a minor injury.
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