2 lotto slay suspects involved in bank rob?

Police expanded their probe yesterday on the criminal activities of two suspects in the lotto slay case in Antipolo City to cover their possible involvement in an earlier robbery of a local bank.

Antipolo police director Superintendent Jose Dayco said cartographic sketches of two of the bank robbers had distinct resemblance to suspects Rolando Velasco, 36, and Renato Rasonado, 23, both of Barangay Mambugan in Antipolo.

Dayco said he would invite employees of the Security Bank and Trust Co. (SBTC) branch in Barangay Mayamot to determine if they could identify Velasco and Rasonado from a police lineup.

Five heavily armed men stormed the SBTC branch in Mayamot last Sept. 11 and took off with some P5 million.

Initial investigation of the crime indicated that three of the holdup men joined employees in entering the bank at about 8:20 a.m., while their two cohorts acted as lookout.

After gaining entry into the bank, the three announced the heist and ordered the workers, including two security guards, to lie face down on the floor.

They cleaned up the vault and the tellers’ drawers of cash which they placed in two duffel bags before fleeing at about 9 a.m.

Police allegedly failed to respond promptly despite a security alarm system linked to the nearest police station.

As the robbery was in progress, President Arroyo was inspecting a warehouse in the area where tons of smuggled rice were allegedly being hoarded.

Dayco said the suspected mastermind of the bank heist was a former agent of the Rizal provincial office of the criminal investigation and detection group of the Philippine National Police, but refused to identify him pending completion of ongoing investigations.

Police have filed charges of robbery with homicide, car theft and illegal possession of firearms against Velasco and Rasonado, as well as eight accomplices identified as Lito Abarico, 43; Francisco Aregue, 26; Luisito Caindoy, 31; Samuel Guiba, 40; Aurelio Omega, 31; Eric Peñalosa, 24, Noel Pinioso, 30; and Joselito Rose, 39, plus two others identified only as Bert and Andy who are still at large.

Velasco and Aregue tagged each other as the mastermind.

Antipolo Assistant Prosecutor Mario Luna has denied bail for the suspects because of the strong evidence against them.

The break for the police in the lotto-slay case came last Wednesday after an informant led them to the house of one of the suspects where the Toyota Grandia van they stole from the Eufemia family and used as a getaway vehicle was hidden.

Police said Velasco has admitted to investigators that they hatched the robbery during the birthday bash of Arturo Eufemia, a 58-year-old former taxi driver.

The suspect said they attended the party upon the invitation of Eufemia’s son, Renan.

Velasco claimed they originally planned just to rob the Eufemias, but were forced to shoot down Arturo when the victim opened fire. The suspects said they did not know that Arturo had bought a gun after his wife Leticia, 52, won P19.6 million in the Oct. 12 lottery draw of the state-run Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

Apart from the P1.2-million van, the suspects also reportedly fled with a still undetermined amount of cash.