In what is fast being seen as a national disgrace, the security of Price Barracks in Ladyville – the headquarters of Belize’s army, and the remnants of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces in Belize, has been breached twice in just two or three days.
The Barracks houses the compounds of both the Belize Defence Force (BDF) and BATSUB, now being staffed by a skeletal force of British soldiers.
Last Wednesday, October 12, leading officers of the BDF, the Ministry of Defence and the CIB (police) held a press briefing about an embarrassing burglary at the Weapon Bulk Store, on the BDF compound, that was discovered that same day at about 10:20 in the morning.
Thieves broke into the first unit of the Weapon Bulk Store and stole a reported 42 weapons, comprised of (22) M16 A1 rifles, (2) M4 Colt Commando rifles, (11) 9mm Beretta pistols and (7) M4 Carbine rifles.
While the officials at the press briefing reported that most of the assault-calibre weapons were unserviceable, a source has indicated to us that in fact, the number of weapons stolen was much more, possibly as high as over 90, and that the stolen weapons were in fact new.
The CEO of the Ministry of Defence and Immigration, Allen Whylie, told us that he is not aware of any such number, and that there are a lot of rumors in circulation, but that he is only working with information given to him by the BDF investigators, which documents only forty-two stolen weapons.
Now today, information to Amandala is that sometime between Thursday evening, October 13, and Friday, October 14, a thief, or thieves, broke into BATSUB’s main office building, located on the BATSUB headquarters inside Price Barracks, and stole four laptop computers.
Information to us is that the thieves entered by breaking the office window.
Whylie reiterated that the BDF is not responsible for security at the BATSUB compound.
We spoke to the British second-in-command at BATSUB, who refused to comment on the burglary, telling us only that “it is an unfortunate incident that was not worthy of coverage.”
We therefore could not find out what sort of information was on the stolen laptops.
The BATSUB second-in-commandant told us that this is not the first time that a burglary has occurred on their compound, and also, that the BDF are not responsible for the security of their compound. He said that BATSUB maintains their own security system at their base at Price Barracks.
Additional information to us, however, is that there were no signs of forced entry on the BATSUB compound.
The BATSUB military forces have been downsizing their unit here in Belize since the start of this year, and though they are not officially operating, there remains a skeletal unit of British soldiers maintaining the BATSUB compound at Price Barracks – more than likely, as BDF personnel told us, as a framework to be used in the event that they decide to resume operations in Belize.
Whylie also said that since the burglary last week at the Weapons Bulk Store, a few security measures have been implemented, such as the assigning of a guard at the Store, the repair of a hole in the perimeter fence, and the installation of proper lighting.
The Minister of Defence and Immigration, Hon. Carlos Perdomo, was unable to speak to us due to scheduled meetings for today.