Tuesday, January 30, 2007 P1M heist: one dead By Jovy S. Taghoy Sun.Star Staff Reporter
FIVE men, wearing police uniforms, arrived at a distribution company’s compound short before 1 a.m. yesterday and announced they will conduct an inspection.
They ended up killing a security guard and robbing Dranix Distributors Inc. about P1 million.
Another security guard Edgardo Tabigui, 32, of Centurion Security Agency survived to narrate what transpired at the compound along N. Bacalso Ave. Ext. in Barangay Basak-San Nicolas, Cebu City.
Tabigui and his slain companion Edgar Embolode Sr., 33, of San Fernando, Cebu were detailed as night shift security guards of the compound that served as the warehouse and regional office of Dranix, a company that distributes different products.
Acting Cebu City Police Director Patrocinio Comendador created a task force made up of the investigators from the Theft and Robbery Section (TRS) and the Homicide Section to work on the case.
Insp. Michael Anthony Bastes, TRS deputy chief, said a mole who is either working for the company or is familiar with the physical structure of the compound, particularly the administrative office, may have helped the five men in pulling off the heist.
The perpetrators, who declared they are members of “Magdalo,” seemed familiar with the area and had brought with them acetylene and LPG tanks that were used to destroy the steel door of a vault where cash and checks were kept.
The robbers took only the bills and left behind the bags of coins.
They also knew the key to use in opening the administrative office where the vault was located.
The robbers did not wear masks.
Dranix general manager Rizal Co and sales manager Rey Yap shared the police’s view that the perpetrators had inside information.
“The fact that they brought with them acytelene tanks means somebody told there is a vault,” Co said.
“They came prepared,” Yap said.
At City Hall, Mayor Tomas Osmeña believes the robbery was an inside job, if not a syndicated operation whose members have a contact inside the establishment.
“We’re looking at an inside job. I will let the police look at it because somebody knew that there was money in the safe and it’s not a retail establishment,” the mayor told reporters when sought for comment.
Firearms, Explosives, Security Agencies and Guards Supervision Section (Fesagss) 7 Chief Lyndon Lawas, in a GMA Balitang Bisdak Report, said his office does not hold inspections at night except on extreme situation.
But before doing so, the Fesagss coordinates with the company.
Yap and Co spoke with Bastes’ team during an inspection at the compound yesterday afternoon.
Co said the stolen money represented the collections in the region that provincial collectors remit on a weekly basis.
Tabuigi, who suffered a wound in the head after one of the robbers struck him with a butt of a gun, was questioned by the task force.
He was also made to undergo a paraffin test and a polygraph exam at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7.
Ernesto Macabare, NBI executive officer and head agent, said the tests are the office’s technical assistance to the Cebu City police.
In a re-enactment inside the compound at 5 p.m. yesterday, Tabuigi said he had just finished roving the warehouse shortly before 1 a.m. and was taking a rest near the warehouse’s door when Embolode, who was posted at the guardhouse near the compound’s gate, whistled to him.
The whistle, Tabuigi explained, is a pre-arranged signal for a security guard to go back to the guardhouse.
As he was walking, Tabuigi said Embolode told him in a loud voice that some personnel from Socia (Supervisory Office for Security and Investigative Agency), now known as Fesagss, have arrived to do an inspection.
Before reaching the guardhouse, he said, two men who were wearing the police’s general office attire or the blue uniform suddenly held him and told him to close his eyes while his hands were tied with a masking tape.
At the guardhouse, Tabuigi said he heard Embolode asking the men what was going on. The men, who were speaking in Tagalog, kept on asking Embolode if they have an alarm system.
Embolode did not answer but continued asking what the inspection was all about.
Tabuigi later heard two “clicks” believed to be from a gun with silencer.
When he opened his eyes to see what happened, his head was struck with a butt of a gun. He said he was told to keep his eyes closed or he will be killed.
The perpetrators dragged Tabuigi to the administrative office, which they had been opened using a duplicate key taken from the guardhouse. Tabuigi pushed under one of the tables inside.
The robbers also tied Tabuigi’s feet with masking tape.
He did not see what happened next because one of the men told him to keep his eyes shut while kicking him.
He heard one robber say they will use the acetylene to open the vault.
Tabuigi said it took almost an hour for the culprits to open the steel door.
The robbers were believed to have boarded a gray Light Ace van in fleeing from the area.
Tabuigi said he stayed under the table for almost half an hour until he no longer heard any voices inside the office.
He crawled all the way from the office to the ground. When he got near the gate, he shouted for help to the house near the gate.
Sandra, a neighbor, heard Tabuigi. She called up the Mambaling Police Station.
The responding operatives from the Mambaling Police Station were the ones who removed the masking tape from Tabuigi.
Personnel from the Scene of the Crime Operation 7 and TRS and Homicide Operatives who later arrived in the area found two empty 9mm shells near Embolode’s body.
They also recovered the acetylene and LPG tanks near the steel door.
In a press conference, Acting CCPO Director Comendador said it is unlikely that policemen are behind the heist.
He said it is possible that the perpetrators are not from Cebu but have local contacts.
Comendador is also planning to ask the tailoring shops that accept jobs for police uniforms to verify first if their customers are bona fide members of the police. (With KNR/GAC)
