$21K Vanishes from Police Evidence Room, No Paper Trail

Tonight, serious questions are being raised about what’s happening behind closed doors in Belize’s police department. More than twenty-one thousand dollars, cash tied to a 2023 court case, has gone missing from the Crimes Investigation Branch evidence room in Belmopan. The alarming discovery came during an internal audit this week, and investigators say the money simply vanished, no signatures, no records, no paper trail to show who took it or when. It’s the latest in a string of troubling incidents involving missing evidence, and tonight, police are under pressure to explain how something like this could happen.

 

ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer

“As it relates to that inquiry I can confirm that as a part of the auditing done at the CIB, a discovery was made that some sums of money were unaccounted for and that is the matter of an ongoing investigation. It is an ongoing investigation. The members of the Professional Standards Branch are reviewing the matter. A number of statements have been recorded as the investigation continues.”

 

Britney Gordon

“Do we know exactly what date it was noticed that the sums went missing?”

 

ASP Stacy Smith

“I believe it was sometime earlier this year. It was a sum of money that was seized as a part of an investigation that dates back to 2023.”

 

Smith says police will provide further information as the investigation continues.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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