Bank robbers strike in Sucat

It took all of three minutes for a dozen bank robbers, one of them a woman, to stage an early morning heist along Sucat Road, Parañaque yesterday morning, as law enforcers tried but failed to catch them.

A brief gunbattle ensued between the unidentified robbers, who were armed with high-powered firearms, and two members of the Parañaque Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team who chanced upon the heist at the Prudential Bank located at the Apelo Building along the busy highway.

A police investigator said the robbers managed to cart away less than a million pesos.

Authorities said at least two of the robbers were wounded by PO1 Arnold Sadorra, Juanito Bustillo and an unidentified police officer who came to the aid of the two SWAT men.

Ironically, the incident happened just before the start of a Peace and Order Council meeting between Interior and Local Government Secretary Joey Lina and Metro Manila mayors in a Pasay City hotel.

The council discussed contingency measures in case criminal groups take advantage of the situation in case a US-led war in the Middle East breaks out.

Paranaque City Mayor Joey Marquez was unable to attend the meeting as he rushed to the crime scene together with Southern Police District (SPD) director Chief Superintendent Jose Gutierrez, and Superintendents Roland Estilles and Armando Pineda, police chiefs of Parañaque and Las Pinas, respectively.

Initial investigation showed the incident happened at around 9:20 a.m., just minutes after the bank opened for the day.

Chief Inspector Enrique Sy, who was among the first to respond to the scene, said the group had at least a dozen members.

Four suspects, including a woman, entered the bank, another four served as the lookouts, while another one conducted the flow of traffic. The rest were inside the getaway vehicles, a beige Starex van (WGP 264) and a light green Lite Ace (TCZ-407).

The robbers, who did not bother to conceal their faces, disarmed the two security guards, and headed for the vault.

The heist was nearly foiled when the robber conducting traffic spotted Sadorra and Bustillo, who were patrolling the area in their black SWAT uniforms and onboard motorbikes.

Sadorra told reporters at least two robbers opened fired at them, perhaps thinking that police were responding to the scene.

He described one of the men as fair-skinned and wearing a brown jacket with red stripes and a dark blue shirt.

"They were professionals, judging by the way they moved and the firearms they used," Sadorra said.

Sy, a police station commander, added that an employee told police investigators that one of the robbers was at the bank last Monday. The police said the robber could have been casing the area.

While the bank was a relatively small one, Sy said its location was ideal for robbers because Sucat Road has access roads to Las Pinas City and Cavite.

The blood-stained vehicles, their windows and windshield shattered by bullets, were abandoned by the robbers at Loro corner Lozada streets at the nearby Gatchalian Subdivision, Phase II in Las Pinas City.

There were bloodstains on the cars parked in front of the bank, on the ground, and inside the getaway vehicles.

Authorities recovered a shot gun inside the Lite Ace van as well as a grenade. The robbers were also believed to have used a .45 caliber pistol and at least three M-16 rifles.

Empty shells were also recovered at the crime scene and inside the vehicles.

Pineda said that the robbers could have had another vehicle waiting for them inside the subdivision, which they apparently planned to be their escape area.