Hunt on for resto robbers

Metro police chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco dispatched several tracker teams yesterday to go after members of the Resto Gang, believed responsible for robbing customers of two restaurants last week.

Velasco said police investigators have established that the same group pulled off the heist at the Outback Restaurant in Libis, Quezon City and the Kamameshi restaurant in Greenhills, San Juan.

"Witnesses have identified common suspects. We are currently matching fingerprints recovered at the crime scene to bolster our case against them," Velasco said in an interview.

He said members of the tracker teams would come from stations where the robbers struck. They would be augmented by men of Superintendent Miguel Laurel, intelligence chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO). "We are also intensifying our intelligence gathering efforts and hopefully we can get them in due time," Velasco said.

At least 10 heavily armed men stormed the Outback steak house in Libis last Thursday, taking with them some P500,000 in cash and valuables from diners. Two days later, the same suspects entered the Kamameshi Japanese restaurant in Greenhills and divested customers of close to P158,000 in cash and jewelry.

Chief Superintendent Rolando Sacramento, director of the Eastern Police District (EPD), said one of the suspects in the Kamameshi robbery was identified by the victims as Jay Canlas, a member of the Resto Gang.

Canlas and his four companions were arrested by EPD operatives on Aug. 4 last year in Rizal province. They were tagged in the robbery of the Mann Hahn Restaurant and the Port Area Grille in San Juan. All five were freed after posting bail.

Canlas, witnesses claimed, was one of the four armed men who entered Kamameshi at 8:20 p.m. last Saturday. Chief Inspector Jose Rayco, San Juan police deputy chief, said Canlas pointed his Baby Armalite rifle at customers before divesting them of their wallets and jewelry.

According to Sacramento, investigators have established that the Mercedes Benz van and the gray Toyota Hi-Ace were used by the Resto Gang in both robberies, part of a large fleet of stolen vehicles used in their operations.

Canlas, a native of Dumaguete City, was last reported to be residing at a house on Oroquieta street in Sta. Cruz, Manila. Two teams of crack operatives, headed by Rayco, was also dispatched by Sacramento to track down Canlas and his cohorts. "We are zeroing in on them," Sacramento said.