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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Carcar robbers tied to mall job
By Jovy S. Taghoy
CEBU CITY -- The robbery group reportedly led by a former member of the Mindanao-based Kuratong Baleleng Gang is being linked to the two robberies that recently occurred in the cities of Cebu and Carcar.
Senior Inspector Michael Anthony Bastes said witnesses in last Friday's P400,000 cash heist on the two employees of a money-changing shop inside a mall and in the foiled robbery of Rural Bank of Cebu South, Inc. in Carcar City last Monday, tagged Roy Fernandez and his group as the perpetrators.
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Judging from the two incidents allegedly pulled off by the group, Bastes said it confirmed the intelligence information he received from his sources in Mindanao that the Roy Fernandez Robbery Group is already operating in Cebu.
Fernandez's group was believed to be the remnant of the disbanded Casimero "Meloy" Robbery Group. (Most of the members of Meloy's group, including Meloy himself, have been arrested and were jailed since last year. Two of the members were also killed last year.)
Earlier information that reached the Cebu City Police Office indicated that the Fernandez-led robbery group was operating in Luzon. Apart from engaging in robberies, the group is also allegedly into kidnap-for-ransom activities.
Bastes said Fernandez, Nelson Gutierrez Jr. and Ricoly Igoy were identified to have carried out the P400,000 robbery on the two employees of X-change Money Changer Shop at the vicinity of Ayala Food and Entertainment Center last Friday night. (Gutierrez died, while Igoy was injured in an alleged shootout with responding policemen when they robbed the bank in Carcar City and held hostage a female employee.)
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The fourth suspect in the money-changing shop robbery was identified as Albert Almedilla.
Bastes said the four suspects were identified by security guard Felipe Mendez of Cherubim Security and General Services Inc., who was detailed in one of the entrance-exit doors of the mall's entertainment center.
Mendez lost his firearm to the robbers, who disarmed him during the incident.
A robbery complaint was filed Monday afternoon against Fernandez, Almedilla and two other John Does as Gutierrez and Igoy were not yet identified during that time. Mendez identified Gutierrez and Igoy hours after the bank robbery in Carcar.
In the Carcar City incident, Bastes said Fernandez was spotted by several bystanders and a parking aide as one of the five persons who went out of the car used by the robbers.
The apple green Mitsubishi Lancer car (THG-799) was left by the suspects in the parking lot in Gaisano Carcar.
Bastes said that according to the information he and a team from Carcar Police Station gathered from bystanders and aides at the parking area, Fernandez and his group, including Gutierrez and Igoy, arrived in the area on board the car between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.
One of the parking aides, Bastes said, even invited the group to have some pork chicharon, one of the city's delicacies, but the group ignored him.
At around 11 a.m. or an hour after the bank robbery, Fernandez allegedly went back to the parking area and peeped inside the car as if trying to find the car keys.
When he failed to find the keys, Fernandez left.
Bastes said the CCPO is closely coordinating with the Cebu Provincial Police Office to find and arrest Fernandez and the members of his group.
Bastes, chief of the Cebu City Theft and Robbery Section (TRS), also appealed to the public to help the police by giving information as to the possible whereabouts and the hideout of the group. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (April 30, 2008 issue)
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