By Belize Live News Staff: The getaway was bold. The hiding spot, less so. A man who allegedly rode off on a vendor’s bicycle at the Orange Walk Bus Terminal has been charged with theft, after police found the bike tossed behind his own house within hours.
The Belize Police Department reports that Ibis Martinez, a 46-year-old self-employed vendor, was working at the terminal on Thursday afternoon, July 9, 2026, when an argument broke out nearby involving a man he knew from selling at the same terminal. Moments later, Martinez watched that same man sprint to his grey Skyline bicycle, worth $300, hop on, and pedal off. Martinez ran after him, shouting for the bike’s return, to no avail.
By 6:40 p.m. that evening, police were at the man’s residence in the Louisiana Area, where a grey Skyline bicycle lay thrown at the back of the house. The man was gone, but the bicycle was not, it was seized, photographed, and identified by Martinez as his that very night.
Five days later, on Tuesday, July 14, information led police right back to where it all began, the bus terminal, where they found the man they were looking for. He was identified as Juan Isaias Ku, 38, a labourer of the Louisiana Area, and taken into custody.
On Wednesday, July 15, Ku was formally arrested and charged with theft. Cautioned once more, he opted to remain silent.
It is worth noting that Ku, like anyone facing a charge, is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless and until proven guilty before the court. The bicycle, at least, has already made it home.
