Bank employee robbed of P6.2M inside UST campus

Four armed men robbed a bank employee of some P6.2 million in cash and checks in broad daylight right inside the campus of the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) in Sampaloc, Manila on Monday.

Ma. Khristine Ajero, 26, a teller of the Security Bank branch at the UST campus, had just collected some P4.5 million cash and P1.7 million worth of checks at the billing section of the UST Hospital for deposit at the bank’s branch just a stone’s throw away from the hospital inside the UST campus. She was escorted by the bank’s lone security guard identified as Roger Anguilan of Philippine Industrial Security Agency.

While the two were walking along Benavides Drive on the way to the bank two armed men blocked their path and at gunpoint declared a holdup. One of the suspects grabbed the two green duffel bags containing the money and checks. The two then rode in tandem on two motorcycles and sped off towards the Dapitan street exit gate.

The two victims told police they failed to get the license plates of the two motorcycles since they were stunned by the sudden incident.

Chief Inspector Benigno Macalindong, chief of the theft and robbery section of the Manila Police District, showed the victims a police rogue gallery of motorcycle-riding robbery gangs but they failed to identify any of the four suspects in the police file. The bank teller furnished police the cartographic sketch of one of the suspects, whom she described as speaking in a Tagalog accent, dark complexioned, stocky built, at least 5’3",  and in his late 30s.

Macalindong is not discounting the possibility of an inside job in the heist since the suspects were able to escape despite the presence of several security guards at all entry and exit points of the UST compound.

He will also look at the guards’ blotter at all entry and exit points to determine if they had recorded the license plates of the get-away motorcycles when it entered the school campus. “All the guards will be individually questioned on what they did to prevent the escape of the suspects. We are also puzzled on how the suspects gained entry at the school campus despite carrying high-powered firearms,” Macalindong said. The UST guards are employed by the Security and Credit Investigation, Inc.

Moreover, anti-bank robbery section chief SPO4 Benjie Abad said his unit is now conducting a parallel probe into the heist. Abad will tap the intelligence unit of the MPD to determine the group which may have perpetrated the robbery.