|
Friday, June 20, 2003
Ex-cop eyed in P15M bank heist, nabbed
By Ernie N. Olson Jr. and Harley Palangchao
BENGUET -- A former policeman believed to have planned the daring bank heist involving P15 million in Abatan, Buguias, Benguet on March 25 was arrested in his hometown on Wednesday.
Marcelino Nginhina, 39, married, a former supply officer of the Ifugao Provincial Police Office, was presented Thursday to Chief Supt. Victor Luga, Police Regional Office (PRO) director and members of the media.
Intelligence operatives of the Benguet Provincial Police Office arrested Nginhina at his house in at Cabaroguis, Quirino province at around 4 p.m. on June 18.
Sr. Supt. Conrado Miņano, Benguet police director, said Thursday that Nginhina was discharged from the police service after being absent without official leave (AWOL) sometime in 1997.
Police said that although "the suspect tried to resist a little, he was easily subdued," when presented with the warrant for his arrest.
Miņano told reporters that Nginhina had been the subject of heightened surveillance days after what the police official described as the biggest bank vehicle heist in recent memory.
Miņano added they continued their monitoring and surveillance of Nginhina in line with their determined attempt to arrest the remaining six suspects, who were believed to be hiding either in the Cordillera or the Ilocos Region.
"We believe that he is only one of the masterminds or leaders of the robbery gang because evidence shows that the heist was done by a combination of two separate gangs."
The group of Nginhina, according to Miņano, is believed to be just a faction of a notorious crime syndicate involved in robbery incidents in Ilocos Sur and Cordillera.
Benguet Gov. Raul Molintas explained the evidence presented to him Thursday shows Nginhina's gang provided the "muscle," while the leader of the other gang that composed the same robbery syndicate provided vital information and the logistics to pull off the heist.
"But, although only seven suspects were reported to have had direct involvement in this Land Bank robbery, we believe that there could have been more, at least ten members all-in-all, to include those who acted as lookouts," he claimed.
Molintas clarified it would now be up to the court, which issued a warrant for Nginhina's arrest, to decide whether to detain the suspect at the Benguet Provincial Jail or in Camp Dangwa.
Luga told reporters some former policemen were also discovered to have links with the group of Nginhina.
He described Thursday the reported involvement of former policemen in heinous crimes, particularly in highway robberies, as "alarming."
Seven heavily armed men had held up a white double-crew pick-up owned by the Land Bank of the Philippines in Sitio Bayoyo, Abatan, Buguias in a daring afternoon heist.
The men, at gunpoint, snatched two large boxes from the pick-up containing about P15 million in cash. The money was supposed to be delivered from the Land Bank branch in Baguio City to another branch in Bontoc, Mt. Province.
They fled in a gray Toyota Tamaraw FX van and drove north towards Abatan, speeding past the police station there and even turning right towards Loo valley in a dramatic getaway.
Amateur radio groups monitored the chase as the hold-up gang sped along Loo. The police run after the group but gave up when the gang brandished a grenade launcher in their direction.
According to eyewitness, the robbers stopped at Cayapes, Buguias, where a backhoe blocked the road with rocks, and escaped on foot after setting their gateway van and other vehicles on fire.
The Tamaraw FX was later found out to be stolen somewhere in Region 2 or the Cagayan area and its motor, chassis and license plate numbers tampered.
The gang men were reportedly armed with M-16 armalite rifles, two M-14 rifles, two shotguns seized from bank security guards and a grenade launcher.
The Cordillera police are calling on all possible robbery victims to come out into the open to identify if the arrested robber was one of those who victimized them previously. Sun.Star Baguio
(June 20, 2003 issue)
Want Sun.Star news on your mobile phone? Click here.
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
 |
| click
to comment on this article or discuss it with other readers |
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
