Robbers stage P3-M heist at call card shop

Armed robbers posing as policemen carted away P3 million from a vault of a shop in Barangay Baesa in Quezon City at past midnight yesterday.

Senior Police Officer 1 Vitalliano Facultad said the six suspects managed to subdue the seven security guards manning different posts at the Baesa Industrial Terminal on Quirino Highway before 1 a.m.

Facultad said the suspects were wearing “black sweatshirts with police markings” and had long firearms. At gunpoint, the suspects hogtied the guards and 12 staff members of the call card distributor MGB Merchandising and forced them to lie facedown.

The suspects then entered the shop and forcibly opened the steel vault, Facultad said in an interview. He hinted at a possible inside job, noting that the suspects’ movements were very precise and that they knew that the vault contained a large amount of money.

The suspects left in a black Isuzu Bighorn, taking with them three shotguns, two .38 caliber revolvers, a pair of two-way radios and ammunition from the security guards and a Nokia 3310 from one of the shop’s employees.

One of the victims managed to note the numerals “267” on the license plates attached to the suspects’ getaway vehicle. – (Reinir Padua)