Thursday, February 01, 2007 Police suspect ‘Acetylene Gang’ of Luzon
A ROBBERY group called “Acetylene Gang” is being considered by the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) as the one that carried out the estimated P1-million heist of a distribution company in Cebu City last Monday.
Acting CCPO Director Patrocinio Comendador told reporters yesterday the Acetylene Gang had robbed a pawnshop of P13 million worth of cash and jewelry in January 2006 in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur.
The heist had a similar mode of execution with the robbery of Dranix Distributions Inc. on N. Bacalso Ave. Ext. in Barangay Basak-San Nicolas, Cebu City just before 1 a.m. Monday.
Like the Dranix robbery, the perpetrators in the Vigan City incident also wore police uniforms and rode a van.
They told the security guard on duty that they were going to conduct an inspection inside.
Once inside the establishment, they disarmed the guard and handcuffed and taped his mouth and feet.
They also opened the safety vault with acetylene torch.
With the similarities in the execution of both heists, Comendador said the operatives of the Theft and Robbery Section (TRS) are pursuing the possibility that the same group may be behind the Dranix robbery.
Comendador said they have already identified the suspects but declined to give details.
Second guard
The probability that slain security guard Edgar Embolode Sr., 33, was involved in the robbery is 80 to 90 percent, he also said. Embolode’s family, in a report over TV Patrol Cebu, expressed disappointment with the report.
“He was the one killed and now they’re blaming him,” said Stephanie Quiling, Embolode’s sister, who could not help but cry.
She said Embolode was a good man and could never be involved in the robbery.
The Cebu City police, Comendador said, also learned that there were disgruntled company employees. He said they are checking their possible involvement.
Not cleared
“We are digging deeper to identify the perpetrators, mastermind,” he said.
Even if Embolode’s fellow security guard Ed-gardo Tabuigi passed the lie detection test by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7, he is not yet cleared of any involvement in the robbery, Comendador said.
“He is not off the hook yet until such time that we will be able to conclude this case,” he said. (JST)
