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Sunday, March 21, 2004
4 suspects in foiled RCBC heist known
* Dagupan police finalizing probe before releasing suspects’ photos and identities
THE cartographic sketches and photos of four of five to seven suspects in the aborted RCBC Savings Bank robbery on February 19 this year in Dagupan City are already with the police.
This was learned from Supt. Noli G. Taliño, city police chief, who disclosed that the plate number on the Crosswind van used by the suspects as their getaway vehicle belongs to a service vehicle of a food processing plant in Pulilan, Bulacan.
“It was the plate number of vehicle where the suspects loaded the two vaults of the processing plant that the group robbed in Bulacan,” he said.
The Crosswind was also carnapped from its owner at gunpoint in Malabon at dawn of the day the group tried to cart away money inside a duffel bag that two employees of RCBC had collected from the Export and Industry Bank and were taking to RCBC along Perez Boulevard in the city.
Taliño said that immediately after the foiled February 19 holdup here, operatives and investigators of the Bulacan and Kalookan City police gave information on the plate number.
“A case had already been filed against the group by the Bulacan police. But I don’t know if a warrant of arrest has been issued by the court because during the coordination, it was not issued yet,” he said.
Police noted the same modus operandi of using police and military uniforms in conducting its criminal activities, he said.
The police chief said this group also entered the Ford Balintawak showroom in Kalookan and stole two cars, one of which has already been recovered.
Taliño said the Bulacan and Kalookan police have identified four to five members of the group.
He said the group of robbers that went to Dagupan was composed of five to seven persons. Four were involved in the direct operation while the others waited in the group’s second getaway car.
“We are trying to figure out how we could file a case against them because when they conducted the illegal operation here, they were wearing bonnets,” he said.
Saying that the city police now have the sketches and photos of the suspects, he added that they would release the pictures and bare their identities once their investigation is finished.
Based on the report received by the Dagupan police from other police units and the bio-data of the suspects, none among the criminals is from Pangasinan.
He said one of them is from Baguio City although they are still confirming this.
He added that one member of the group is believed to be a former policeman. “But we will still have to validate it and why he was dismissed or how he got out of the police organization.”
“We are positive that they have a tipster in Pangasinan who is giving information to the group,” he said.
Taliño further disclosed that coordination between the police and the Metro Dagupan Bankers Association Inc. has been constant.
“In fact, we have a recommendation to the association for the rotation of some of the banking institutions’ personnel, especially the security guards,” he said.
He said there is a policy of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that the tenure of bank guards should only be six months and that they should be rotated, although he noted that some of the bank guards in the city have been serving their respective branches for two to three years.
As to the preventive measures, the police chief said they have been intensifying police visibility.
“Aside from that, we also have choke points. We are conducting choke-point rehearsals regularly so that if such similar incident happens, the city police already have the knowledge in conducting a choke point,” he said.
Since the city has many entry and exit points, he said personnel of the various police community precincts are being trained in “covering the open holes within their jurisdiction in our rehearsals.”
He said there are seven PCPs in the city compared to the more than 10 exit and entry points.
“Our coordination with other police stations is continuous, as well as the exchange of information,” he said.
(March 21, 2004 issue)
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