Armed men rob Harrison Plaza

MANILA, Philippines - At least 10 heavily armed men in police assault uniforms robbed several establishments at the Harrison Plaza mall in Malate, Manila at past midnight yesterday.

The suspects – who wore black t-shirts, vests and Kevlar helmets – also disarmed seven security guards and took 14 hand-held radios as well as the guards’ cellular phones and jewelry.

According to Chief Inspector Edgardo Carpio, who heads the theft and robbery section of the Manila Police District, the robbers forced the guards to open the offices of Belco Marketing Inc., which operates the mall.

The robbers forced open three small vaults, but failed to open a large vault, which reportedly contained millions of pesos.

“We were informed by Belco representatives that the smaller vaults only contained inexpensive jewelry and the company documents. Apparently the robbers failed to get a large amount of cash in their daring heist,” Carpio told The STAR.

Investigation showed that at around 1:20 a.m. the robbers passed through the mall’s Ilonggo Grill eatery entrance. Some of the robbers herded guards and employees to the space occupied by Nena’s Food Chain, while others went to the second floor, where Belco’s office is located.

The suspects escaped on board a black sport utility vehicle (SFN-529) and a white box-type Nissan car. They also took away a close-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed in the mall’s security office.

Malate police station chief Superintendent Felipe Cason, whose office is only several meters away from the Harrison Plaza complex, blamed the guards for not immediately reporting the incident.

“I am wondering why the guard assigned at the CCTV room failed to immediately report the robbery incident to the police when he could have monitored the entry of the suspects through the surveillance camera,” he said.

Intelligence operatives are looking into the possible link between the mall robbers and the Alvin Flores robbery gang, which uses fake police uniforms in their operations.