Police eye inside job in Dranix rob

As police are eyeing the inside job angle in the Dranix Distributors robbery, in which a security guard was killed, the other guard who survived the incident tested negative in the polygraph examination.

Edgardo Tabigui passed the lie detector test conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation upon the request by the police. Based on the polygraph test result, Tabigui was cleared from suspicion of conniving with the five robbers.

The result showed that Tabigui was very consistent in his answers to the polygraph examiner, indicating that he really had no knowledge about the robbery.

Theft and Robbery Section chief Alexis Relado believes that security guard Edgar Embolode, who was killed during the robbery, could have been the local contact of the robbers.

Police investigators are looking into the possibility that Embolode was double-crossed by the robbers. Relado said they have already requested the NBI to check the record of Embolode to find out whether he has criminal records.

Tabigui, who hails from Bohol, was already released from police custody yesterday afternoon after he was cleared of any involvement in the robbery.

The robbers wore police uniforms in going to Dranix warehouse compound past midnight last Monday, pretending to be conducting an inspection that prompted the guard to let them in.

Once inside, the robbers immediately declared the holdup and using acetylene, they destroyed the vault where the money estimated to be P500,000 to P1 million was kept.

Aside from Embolode, the police also have other suspects but they refused to divulge any identity because it might hamper their follow-up operations.

The police are eyeing a robbery group from Surigao City with local contacts in Cebu as responsible for the robbery.

They were able to discover a bag bearing a Philippine Ports Authority sticker from Surigao City. PPA personnel from Surigao City confirmed the sticker, saying that the bag passed through them.

The bag contained two crowbars, a kitchen knife and an adjustable wrench, the tools that the robbers used in opening the vault. Relado said based on the evidence, he believed it was Embolode who informed the suspects that there was cash inside the vault.

He explained that it was impossible for the robbers to know that there was a big amount in the vault if no one from inside the company had informed them.

The robbers also apparently knew how big the vault was because they brought along with them a big blowtorch. The police, however, found out that there was no force entry.

It was learned that the keys have been entrusted to the guards and it turned out during police investigation that the robbers were very precise in using the key to open the entrance door of the firm's administration office.

Tabigui, who was taking a rest near the warehouse's door, said he noticed a Light Ace van used by the robbers inside the warehouse when Embolode called him up to go back to the guardhouse. The car was parked near the company's container van.

Because of this, Relado concluded that before Embolode called Tabigui up, the former already opened the gate to have the van get inside the warehouse.

"So we could say na before siya (Tabigui) tinawag ni Embolode pinapasok na yung van, kaya based on my honest opinion, Embolode was really involved there (in the robbery). He was the inside man, kaso lang dinobol-cross siya", Relado said.

Relado stressed that the victim was killed by the robbers so that he could he could not say anything about the incident.

Relado also learned that Embolode, a nautical student, had applied for a night shift from November to January reportedly for his schooling. But Relado said during that span of time, the robbers might have been building up their plans on the robbery.

The police were also looking for Embolode's cell phone to get some information on the robbery, but failed to find it.

Tabigue, whom the police earlier tagged in the incident, is now considered a witness after he cooperated with the authorities. Relado said that if Tabigue was indeed involved in the robbery, he could have gone into hiding by now.

But police have yet to get the result of the paraffin test conducted on Tabigue.

"We hope to crack this case within the week," Relado assured.

Meanwhile, regional police director Silverio Alarcio Jr. has warned civilian anti-crime volunteers not to wear police uniforms otherwise they will be arrested.

Alarcio made the warning yesterday in response to Vice Mayor Michael Rama's call for the police to go after those wearing police uniforms.

Rama said the police should strictly implement the law that prohibits the unauthorized wearing of police uniforms and insignia. - Fred P. Languido and Flor Z. Perolina