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Thursday, February 13, 2003
Drive-thru robbers flee with P167,000
By Rene H. Martel
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
TWO armed men on board a motorcycle held up a Danao City businessman outside a fastfood joint in Cansaga, Consolacion, Cebu yesterday afternoon, taking at least P167,000 in payroll.
The victim had just withdrawn the cash from a Mandaue City bank from where the robbers apparently started tailing him.
Haron Strackman, 57, told Consolacion municipal police he and his 56-year-old driver, Alberto Batalona, were on board their service multicab (GPD 938) on their way to Danao City when they decided to drop by Jollibee-Cansaga at 2:05 p.m. The fastfood outlet is located near the town’s new public market and is less than five minutes away from the municipal hall and police station.
Strackman and his driver went to the drive-through counter and were about to place their orders when the two armed men, with their motorcycles parked seven meters away, pointed .45 pistols at their necks.
PO3 Jose Martinez said one of the men opened the glove compartment where Strackman placed the blue bag containing the money.
Strackman had just withdrawn the money from Metro-bank-Tabok, Mandaue City branch to pay his employees.
Took seconds
Senior Insp. Illuminado Alin, Consolacion police chief, said the robbery took only a few seconds, with the robbers fleeing in the direction of Mandaue City.
Strackman and Batalona were not able to describe the perpetrators because they were told to look down during the robbery.
A Jollibee crew member, however, said one of the robbers was about 5’8” to 5’10” tall, 20 to 26 years old, fair-skinned and wore a gray shirt and a pair of denim pants.
The other was about 5’5”, 28 to 30 years old, dark-skinned and wore a green shirt and denim pants.
Both men were armed with .45 pistols.
Supt. Agustin Lloveras, Danao City police chief who also hails from the place, said he will try to verify if known robbers in his area were the ones involved.
He, however, thinks that’s unlikely because it would be foolish for a robber to strike in an area where he is known.
He said the robbery happened in broad daylight, in an open area and with the perpetrators not wearing masks.
Waited to strike
Alin, on the other hand, said the robbers could have waited outside the bank for somebody to victimize when they saw Strackman walking away from the building with the bag in his hand.
“Nganong kahibalo man nga didto gyud gibutang sa compartment sa may dashboard gibutang tong bag? Pagti-on, diretso man abli sa compartment,” he said. (How come they knew where the bag was placed?)
Alin said the lone witness couldn’t identify either men from the rogues’ gallery.
The last time a robbery happened in Consolacion was last Nov. 23, when a doctor and his sister who co-owned a pharmacy were robbed of P195,000 at the boundary of Cansaga and Pitogo.
The victims, after calling it a day in the store, were on their way home on board their jeepney when they had a flat tire around 9:35 p.m.
Two men who had been tailing them on a motorcycle then pointed guns at them.
The suspects in this robbery, however, are now jailed in Danao City after they were captured in relation to a separate heist last month.
(February 13, 2003 issue)
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