2 more Ermita heist suspects fall

Follow-up operatives of the Manila Police District (MPD) nabbed two more suspects yesterday in connection with the ongoing manhunt for the brains behind the P2-million heist on a money exchange shop in Ermita, bringing to five the number of suspects arrested since Monday.

Chief Inspector Benjamin Reyes, chief of the MPD’s Theft and Robbery Section, identified the suspects as Arnel Pandian, 31, of Pikit, Cotabato, and Jack Arajil, 32, of Jolo, Sulu.

Pandian, who was arrested at the Baseco area in Tondo, was the alleged firearm supplier of the group, while Arajil, who was nabbed in Quiapo, acted as the spotter of possible targets for their capers.

The suspects named their leader, who is now the subject of a police manhunt, according to Reyes, but temporarily withheld the identity of the mastermind so as not to jeopardize police operations.

Swift police action led to the apprehension of the first three suspects just hours after the crime was committed last Monday.

Asaal Jailani, Jerry Naning and Abu Bakar Ahmad fell one after the other in a single day.

The heist was allegedly planned by Jailani, a relative-employee of Latip Insani, owner of the I’chi Ban money changer shop in Ermita, Manila, who contracted three other Muslim men for the job, according to Reyes.

Reyes said Jailani and another employee Ferdinand Darantinao withdrew P2 million each from a local bank in Makati.

Jailani managed to return to the money shop with the P2 million intact, while Darantinao was held up and robbed of the P2 million by Jailani’s cohorts.

Reyes said he sensed something amiss in Jailani’s statement to the police, prompting him to order the surveillance of the suspect.

Hours later, undercover cops spotted Jailani talking to two males along the Baywalk area. When frisked for identification, Ahmad yielded some P20,000 and a receipt for a room at the Longwood Hotel in Pasay City.

Police then swooped down on the said hotel, where some P517,000 of the loot was recovered. The three suspects admitted their participation in the heist.

The initial recovery of the loot and the ongoing manhunt for the group’s leader prompted the owner of the money shop to commend the swift response of the Manila policemen led by Reyes.