Armed men rob restaurant customers

Armed robbers broke into a Chinese restaurant in Quezon City early afternoon yesterday, running away with hundreds of thousands worth of cash and other belongings from customers.

Police Officer 3 Renato Santos. Jr. of the Quezon City Police District–Station 1 said around 20 customers at the Chinatown’s Best Food restaurant on Banaue Street were robbed at around 1:15 p.m.

The four armed men took the firearm of security guard Rexton Belinario, whom they dragged into the restaurant, Santos told The STAR.

The suspects then declared a heist and took the personal belongings of the customers, but left the restaurant’s cashbox alone.

The incident lasted for less than five minutes, after which the suspects quickly fled on two motorcycles without license plates and driven by two men, who also acted as lookouts.

Santos could not determine the exact amount of the loot as he said most of the customers were not cooperative. But he said the victims’ stolen belongings amounted to hundreds of thousands, citing a claim of one of the victims who claimed he lost a wristwatch worth P100,000.

He also said neither the victims nor the restaurant personnel could identify the suspects, claiming all of them were looking down during the heist out of fear.

Santos also expressed dismay with another security guard, who was left outside the restaurant at the time of the incident.

He cited that the security guard claimed that he intended to fire at the suspects but did not do it because he could hit the customers. The security guard also said he could not identify any of the suspects.

Santos said it was weird that the restaurant’s security camera had a malfunctioning recorder at the time of the robbery.

Police are looking into the possibility that the group was the same one behind a robbery at another restaurant in the city years before.

Santos said the “Resto Gang,” whose members were eventually arrested by San Juan police, had a similar modus operandi. He said members of the gang could have been released.

But Santos said they still do not know how to determine if the Resto Gang struck again since none of the victims of yesterday’s robbery could identify the suspects.