Gone in 60 seconds

Confronted by 30 bank robbers with long firearms and a convoy of vans and motorcycles, the security guards of a bank in Makati City never had a chance.

Using "shock and awe" tactics, a group of bank robbers took off with P1.5 million in cash from the Equitable-PCIBank branch at the corner of Gil Puyat Avenue and Paseo de Roxas shortly after noon yesterday. The heist took less than a minute.

Initial investigation conducted by the Makati police Criminal Investigation Division (CID) said the robbers caught several blue guards by surprise by storming the bank’s building using the back entrance on Jupiter street in Barangay Bel-Air.

Makati police headquarters initially received a report about a shooting incident and found out later on that it was a bank robbery.

Superintendent Jose Salido, chief of the Makati police CID, disclosed that more or less 30 suspects armed with high-powered firearms took part in the heist.

Security personnel of the bank claimed that 15 of the suspects went inside the back entrance of the bank and immediately disarmed them.

Before the suspects entered, one of the eight security guards went out to relieve himself and was immediately forced to the ground by the suspects at gunpoint.

The suspects proceeded to an office located at the ground floor where all of the cash was laid out. They quickly placed the cash inside several bags.

Five bank tellers were inside the room and were ordered to lie down on the floor by the armed suspects.

Salido said the suspects were highly organized based on how quickly they pulled off the robbery.

It was revealed that the suspects would have completed the robbery even faster had they not encountered problems removing video tapes from recorders that are part of the bank’s security inside the building.

Apart from the cash, the suspects also took four shotguns and four caliber .38 pistols taken from the eight security guards inside the bank and a cache of firearms which were kept in a secure location.

Another security guard who was at the fourth floor of another part of the building said that when he saw the suspects running out of the back entrance, they fired shots at him.

He managed to fire back but failed to hit any of the suspects.

The same security guard said he saw a gray Ford Expedition and a dark colored Toyota Revo, which the suspects parked inside the compound. Two other vehicles, a Hyundai Starex and a Toyota sedan, were waiting outside the gate.

Some of the suspects were also seen on board motorcycles.

Security personnel noted that the suspects made no effort to cover their faces and only a couple wore caps or bandanas. Some of the suspects were also wearing fatigue uniforms.

Four armored trucks went out yesterday morning to collect cash from several commercial establishments in the Central Business District of Makati City.

A few minutes after two of the armored trucks returned to the bank, the suspects arrived and conducted the heist.

Investigators are still collecting the statements of the security personnel and bank tellers as of press time.