|
Friday, October 12, 2007
3 gas stations robbed in half hour
CEBU CITY -- Three gasoline stations were robbed early Thursday — two in Mandaue City and one in Cebu City within a span of about 30 minutes.
Two gun-wielding men pulled off the heists in Mandaue 10 minutes part and ran off with P23,000 in cash and valuables.
Join forum on Sandiganbayan's guilty verdict on Estrada plunder case. Post comments here.
However, a security camera installed at Shell gasoline station captured their features. Cebu city police investigators are coordinating with Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) to have a look at the video footage.
The robbers first hit Shell station in Barangay Subangdaku at 4:20 a.m. and fled with the station’s P6,000 earnings. Then they barged inside a Caltex station, also in the same barangay, at 4:30 a.m. and grabbed P1,000 in earnings, and a customer’s P5,000 cash and P11,000 worth gold necklace.
In Cebu City, a gasoline station along General Maxilom Avenue was robbed by two men, one of them armed with a handgun.
The Caltex station lost P6,000 in earnings.
Cebu City Police Director Patrocinio Comendador, however, lamented that the depot failed to immediately coordinate with the police.
He said the Fuente Osmeña Police Station, the nearest one, received the report almost two hours after the incident.
Comendador said the gasoline station has no security guard or surveillance camera.
He directed the Theft and Robbery Section to coordinate with its counterpart in Mandaue to identify the perpetrators.
Information gathered by the Fuente Osmeña Police Station from cashier Dionisio Damalos established that the robbery happened past 4 a.m.
Damalos, who was inside the cashier’s booth, heard several knocks on the door, prompting him to open it.
A man, armed with a .45 pistol, pointed a gun at him and declared a holdup. Damalos was forced to give up the P6,000 to the robber.
The robber fled on a motorcycle with a driver.
Damalos could not remember the type of motorcycle and its color. He only remembered 82 as the last number on the license plate.
Meanwhile, a bank collector was robbed by two men on a motorcycle in Sitio Lamacan, Barangay Lamacan, Carcar City Thursday afternoon.
Arniel Amancio Buac, 30, had hired a motorcycle driver to take him back to Carcar proper.
As he and driver Rodrigo Bargamento passed by a secluded part of the road, they were blocked by two men wearing cloth masks.
One of them pointed a gun at them and demanded that he hand over the cash he was bringing and his cellular phone.
Buac, who had just collected more than P17,000 from two clients, reluctantly handed it over, along with his personal Nokia N70 cellular phone.
The two then sped off towards Barangay Napo.
PO1 Renido Villaraiz told Sun.Star Cebu Thursday night that Sitio Lamacan is a hilly part of the city and is about a 30 minute drive from the city proper.
Villaraiz said Buac often collects from clients by hiring a motorcycle driver to take him to his clients.
Operatives who conducted a hot pursuit found one of the cloth masks discarded not far from where the robbery took place.
Asked if a motorcycle driver could have tipped off the robbers, Villaraiz said it was possible.
He said Bargamento was also being questioned by their investigators.
In Mandaue, no one was hurt in the two heists although the robbers shot but missed Caltex security guard Joshua Cabilar, 19, who tried to chase them.
Cabilar went to the police station and confirmed to Inspector Ramon Villar that those caught on the security camera were the ones who robbed them.
Villar narrated that at the Shell station at the reclamation area, the robbers subdued security guard Joel Elardo, 24, who was reportedly unarmed and was ordered lie face down.
One robber divested cashier Charlene Estrera, 22, of cash and the other confronted cashier Leah Minaloc, 20.
The robbers then went to the Caltex station along Ouano ave., some two kilometers away.
They then barged inside the convenience store and announced a holdup.
The robber who was wearing a helmet took the guard’s .38 revolver. The two then waited for cashier Irish Villacarlos, 20, to come out of the comfort room.
They soon became impatient and warned that they will shoot Cabilar and Phegie Veraque if she will not come out.
The cashier went out of the room.
Then Dutch national Klaus Vink came in and the robbers grabbed his cash and gold necklace.
As they were about to run off, they emptied Cabilar’s gun and threw it away.
The guard retrieved the gun and loaded it. He tried to chase the robbers. But they fired at him several times.
Cabilar said he fired back but failed to hit any of robbers. (OCP/JST/MEA/Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (October 12, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Pacquiao gets warm welcome