In and out in less than 10 minutes

This bank heist was so easy that the suspects didn’t even need a getaway car.

A bank in New Manila, Quezon City lost P100,000 in cash when five handgun-wielding robbers, including a woman, barged into an AsiaTrust Bank branch along E. Rodriguez Avenue near Doña Juana street yesterday morning.

Initial investigation conducted by members of the Central Police District-Criminal Investigation Unit (CPD-CIU) disclosed that the incident took place around 10 a.m. The heist was over in less than 10 minutes.

Senior Superintendent Procopio Lipana, chief of the CPD-CIU, said the suspects initially posed as clients of the bank, even submitting themselves to a routine security inspection.

When the lone security guard of the bank, identified as Edgardo Alminiana, checked the clutch bag of one of the suspects, he found a handgun inside.

Before he could react, the other suspects behind took out their weapons and herded Alminiana inside the bank, where some 10 bank clients were ordered to lie face down.

The suspects then proceeded to the counter and, at gun point, took the whatever cash was on hand from bank teller Shen Penafiel. No money was taken from the bank’s vault.

Lipana told The Star that the suspects intended to stage a quick heist and take what was available.

Witnesses said the five suspects fled aboard a passenger jeepney, which they hailed just outside the bank.

Meanwhile, an alleged robber was killed at noon yesterday by a responding security guard of a gasoline station, moments after his group robbed a couple of P100,000.

The money was the intended for the payroll for a security agency in Quezon City.

Superintendent Benigno Durana, chief of Central Police District-Station 7 in Cubao, said the body of the suspect was found at about 12:05 p.m. along 18th Avenue near Boni Serrano in Cubao. The man had a gunshot wound in the back. Also found was a caliber .45 handgun.

According to Durana, the man was with two companions when they held up Romualdo Abuya and Felicidad Zacarias-Abuya, of Cubao, Quezon City, at around 11:55 p.m. in front of a gasoline station along Aurora Boulevard.

The husband owns the Legaspi Security Agency and Investigation.

Police said the couple was aboard their Toyota Revo (WGE-157) that parked in front of the gas station when the three suspects on board a motorcycle suddenly appeared, and, at gunpoint, divested them of the P100,000.

Romualdo managed to alight from the van and seek the assistance from nearby security guard Judy Olivo, who then fired at the suspects, hitting one of them.

Durana said the two other suspects then dumped their slain cohort at the corner of 18th Avenue and Boni Serrano.