Thieves Ditch Vehicles After Shootout with Police in Cayo

Police say a security guard at Central Farm had to call for backup after thieves stole his phone. That alert set off a rapid response, officers from the Benque Police Formation and the Special Patrol Unit jumped into action. Assistant Superintendent of Police Stacy Smith told us things quickly escalated: a shootout broke out between officers and one of the suspects before the culprits ditched their getaway vehicles. Here’s what ASP Smith had to say.

 

ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer 

“Having been notified of the incident the operational plan was put into place which included the cordoning of those areas of interest given that past incidents of this nature showed that theft of vehicles are done with a view to take them over to Guatemala. The operation was successful and officers were able to recover two of the stolen trucks, one of which was on the Hydro Road  area and the other was found of George Street in Benque Viejo Town. The others were recovered by personnel from the special patrol unit and during the course of them making that recovery they were fired upon by one of the culprits who eventually retreated, abandoning the vehicles. Operations are still underway to identify those individuals and the investigators are in possession of several video footages that are being reviewed with a view to aid in the ongoing investigation. Yes there is a system in place that is called geofencing and I have not been able to conclusively get that information as to whether that resulted in the officers being able, but certainly geo-tracking was a feature that was of some assistance in this investigation.”