Munti bank break-in an ‘inside job’

MANILA, Philippines - A break-in at a Development Bank of the Philippines branch in Putatan, Muntinlupa City over the weekend may have been an "inside job," a police official said yesterday.

In a report released by the Philippine National Police public information office, city police chief Senior Superintendent Conrad Capa stated that “all indicators point to (an) inside job.”                

According to the results of the initial investigation, the burglars may have entered the bank from Oct. 26 to the wee hours of Oct. 29 by cutting the grills securing the window of the bank’s restroom.

However, during the reenactment, steel workers invited by Capa said the bolt cutter marks left on the grills show that they had been cut from inside the bank.

The burglars also ate during the break-in, as indicated by the leftover food found by investigators, Capa said.

Four bank security guards who were on duty from Thursday to Sunday are now under investigation. Investigators have yet to release the guards’ names.

"We have the cell phones of two guards and the accountant for technical evaluation," Capa said.

Bank employees discovered the burglary at about 8 a.m. yesterday and reported the incident to the police an hour later.

According to Capa, the burglars used acetylene torches to bore holes in the bank vault. The amount of money stolen from it has yet to be established.

Investigators have also yet to establish how many people broke into the bank.

During the burglary, the thieves cut the cable connected to the bank alarm, covered all four closed-circuit television cameras with rags, and took with them the central processing unit (CPU) of the computer where the CCTV footage is stored.

An insider said that during the reenactment, the CPU unit did not fit through the window, thus  “bolstering the theory that the thieves did not enter and escape there.”

The source added that it would be “difficult” for the thieves to enter through the window because it is beside to a busy residential compound.

“Someone will definitely see you if you enter from there,” the source said.