By Belize Live News Staff: A pastor in Guinea Grass Village is asking a painful question this week, after discovering that thieves had broken into his church compound and stripped its kitchen and Sunday school of hundreds of dollars in items.
The Belize Police Department reports that Pastor Hiliberto Santos, 49, made the report on Wednesday morning, July 8, 2026, after arriving at Iglesia Cristo Misionera to find signs of forced entry. The kitchen window had been shoved open with enough force to bend the latch inside, and a look around revealed the Sunday school building had fared no better, its doors flung wide and a wooden louver window pried away.
The pastor believes the burglars struck under cover of darkness, sometime between Monday night and the wee hours of Tuesday. With no cameras on either building, the thieves left little behind but the mess. Santos told police he cannot think of a single person who would want to do this, saying he has no quarrel with anyone in the village.
What they took reads like a raid on the congregation’s everyday life: the plates, cups, and cutlery used to serve meals, a set of five stainless steel pots, a 100-foot extension cord, buckets, chairs from the Sunday school, a fan, a curtain, even a tin of paint. Counting the damaged window and broken padlocks, the church’s losses total $922. Court action has been requested.
Police and scenes of crime personnel processed and photographed the compound, and investigators have identified persons of interest as the matter continues to be looked into. No one has been arrested, and a search made in connection with the case reportedly came up empty.
For a small village congregation, $922 is no small blow, and the sting of being targeted at all may cut deeper still. Anyone with information that could help is urged to contact police or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 922.
