Thieves ransack bank

Six enterprising thieves broke into a branch office of Prudential Bank in Sampaloc, Manila Thursday night, taking with them some P1 million worth of cash and jewelry.

The heist was discovered when bank employees reported for work yesterday morning and found their office in disarray, with no electricity and the bank’s steel vault opened.

Police investigators recovered an acetylene tank, a blow torch, a hand drill, a crowbar, several screwdrivers and a ladder inside the bank located at the corner of Miguelin street along España Avenue in Sampaloc.

Linda Gaffud, Prudential Bank Sampaloc branch general manager, told police an estimated P1 million worth of cash in the vault and jewelry kept in safety deposit boxes were taken by the thieves.

Western Police District-Theft and Robbery Section head Chief Inspector Benjamin Reyes said the suspects cut the electricity of the bank and created an opening in the vault’s door with the use of an acetylene torch.

Investigations revealed that the six suspects earlier rented six rooms at the Souvenir Lodge, which is adjacent to the bank, at around 6 p.m. last Thursday.

They told the inn staff they were engineers so as not to attract suspicion to the numerous equipment they were carrying.

Reyes said that later in the evening, the suspects made a hole in the ceiling of Room 55 of the inn. They then passed through the roof and bore another hole on the roof of the bank leading to its second floor.

Another hole was drilled on the wooden flooring of the second floor as the suspects gained entry to the bank’s vault. The suspects used the same route on their way back to the inn.

Employees of Souvenir Lodge said the six suspects hurriedly checked out at about 4 a.m. after paying the rent of each room at P140 per hour. They said the suspects spoke in an ethnic dialect.

When a room maid was about to clean the rented rooms, she found out that Room 55 was locked from the inside. Raising suspicion, she called on the police who broke open the door.

Police discovered the open hole on the ceiling of the room.

Reyes said no worker stays overnight at the bank, not even the security guard. The last employee left at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday.

Police are now looking into the possible involvement of the Igorot Gang robbery group that pulled off similar heists in the past.