Technician, guard tagged in P.5-M heist at Letran

MANILA, Philippines -  Police launched a manhunt for a technician and a security guard of Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Intramuros, Manila following the discovery of the loss of the school’s 12 laptop computers and accessories worth P548,000, an official said yesterday.

The loss was discovered Monday morning by a school guard when he made the rounds at the Internet Research Laboratory.

Chief Inspector James Paras, who heads the Manila Police District’s theft and robbery section, said footage taken by a surveillance camera showed technician Albert Zapata entering the laboratory twice with an empty backpack, then emerging each time with an “obviously heavy backpack.”

Security guard Erman Tarroza, who was seen assisting Zapata as he entered the laboratory, did not bother to accost Zapata to check the contents of his “bulky backpack,” Paras said.

“Obviously there is a connivance between the technician and the school guard,” he added. Police investigators said the two suspects have left their given addresses.