Quick withdrawal

Call it an unguarded moment.

Four armed men struck with precision and robbed an EastWest Bank branch in Quezon City, carting away close to half a million pesos in cash yesterday morning.

They pulled it off at a time when most mobile patrols and elements of the Central Police District (CPD) were participating in a parade for the 12th anniversary of the Philippine National Police (PNP) at Camp Crame.

CPD director Senior Superintendent Napoleon Castro said the heist occurred around 9:45 a.m. at the bank’s Congressional Avenue branch. He noted, however, that a motorcycle patrol of CPD-Station 3 was in the area but did not notice anything suspicious.

The suspects, wielding caliber .45 caliber pistols, carried out the bank job in less than 10 minutes.

Reports reaching the CPD headquarters in Camp Karingal revealed that the cash taken had been intended for the bank’s automated teller machine (ATM) station.

Initial investigation showed that three suspects entered the bank, posing as customers, and immediately disarmed the bank’s lone security guard while the other suspect served as a lookout.

Castro said the suspects inside the bank then ordered bank employees and clients to lie face down. They then quickly seized the money from the counter, where one of the bank tellers was preparing bills to be loaded into the ATM.

The suspects took the guard’s caliber .38 pistol when they left on board a maroon FX van with no license plates and sped off toward EDSA.

However, late reports reaching Castro revealed that six men were involved in the robbery.

In a telephone interview, Castro told The STAR that the driver of the FX turned himself in to authorities to shed light on the case. The driver, whose name was withheld, claimed he earlier picked up six passengers in Cogeo. The six men later robbed him of his belongings upon reaching Cubao.

The driver claimed the suspects ordered him to proceed to Congressional Avenue, where they robbed the bank.

Castro said witnesses, including the security guard and employees of the bank, positively identified one of the suspects from a photo gallery of the CPD. Police immediately released the sketch of the suspect, who was described as about 40 to 50 years old, slim and fair-complexioned, and around 5’9" to 5’11" tall. He said the suspect could be part of the Waray Group.

Castro said he has ordered his men to find out if the robbers had inside help since they were obviously familiar with the bank’s schedule.

"We are confident that we will solve this soon," Castro said.

The CPD was awarded as the Best National Capital Region Police Office District for 2002 in yesterday’s PNP anniversary celebration. – With Matthew Estabillo