Motorcycle-riding men rob Navotas money-lending firm

Police are hot on the trail of at least six motorcycle-riding armed men who robbed a money-lending firm and its employees on Saturday afternoon in the coastal town of Navotas.

The Carson Financing company, with offices at Rooms 202 and 203 on CIFRA Building, M. Naval street in Bgy. Sipac, reportedly lost P91,000 in cash and several postdated checks while its nine employees were divested of their cellular phones, a total of P10,600 cash, and thousands of pesos worth of other important belongings.

Police Officer 3 Noel Banares said that at around 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, six unidentified men, armed with .45 and .9mm pistols, barged inside the offices of Carson Financing and announced a heist. At gunpoint, the robbers ordered all the employees to lie face down on the floor.

The suspects ransacked the offices for cash and divested the employees of their own money and valuables. They fled aboard two black Enduro motorcycles.

Banares said the robbers, wearing black jackets, easily entered the premises of the CIFRA building for it has no detailed guard. The suspects fled towards the neighboring city of Malabon.

Banares said the group could be new in the area as none of the nine employees of the firm were able to recognize even one of them in the photo gallery of suspected robbery hold-up gangs operating in Navotas.

In a related development, the Malabon City police are also tracking down a group of robbers who burglarized Friday the residence of businessman Edmund Andres of assorted jewelry, cash, and valuables, including a computer set.

Witnesses told the police that a white Nissan Sentra, without license plates, parked in front of the Andres residence at 17 Ekias street in Bgy. Acacia around noon and unidentified men started loading some of their belongings in the vehicle. The vehicle simply left a few minutes later.

The burglary was only discovered when the Andres family returned home at around 4 p.m.