INSIDE job is the angle being looked into by the police behind the P1.3-million theft incident at Ilog Rural Bank in Hinoba-an town, Negros Occidental, Lieutenant Jaime Dequillo, the town’s deputy chief, said Friday, November 12, 2021.
Dequillo said the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office’s Scene of the Crime Operations (Soco) is now leading the investigation.
He said after the Soco gathers all the evidence, it will start its corroborative investigation to identify the suspects.
The police theorized that the theft could have taken place Wednesday night and was only discovered the following day when the employees went back to work.
Investigation showed that the suspect had keys to the roll-up door while the sliding door was apparently left open.
The suspect also knew the number combination of the safety vault where the money was kept, Dequillo said.
The bank, which is located beside the road at the town proper, has no security guard while its closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera was not working, the police official added.
He said they could not yet determine if the CCTV had been non-serviceable prior to the incident or was intentionally turned off.
Although the amount of the alleged stolen money has been declared, the police have yet to establish if the figure is already final since the logbook where the cash balance is recorded was reported missing.
The bank has six employees including the officer-in-charge, four crew members, and utility personnel.