2 suspects in jail during mall heist

MANILA, Philippines - Two of the three suspects in the daring robbery at a jewelry store inside SM Megamall turned out to be in jail during the heist, police said yesterday.

Senior Superintendent Florendo Quibuyen, Mandaluyong City police chief, said that Ben Panday and Marc Calama, a former security guard, were detained at the Manila City jail.

Both are serving time for robbing a jewelry store in Binondo, Manila in 2011, Quibuyen said.

Witnesses positively identified Panday and Calama in the police’s rogue gallery as among the suspects in mall robbery.

“The pictures we have shown to one of our witnesses were taken in 2010. We intend to visit Panday in jail then take his and Calama’s pictures and show them back to our witnesses,” Quibuyen said.

The police official said he will ask the help of Panday and Calama in identifying the suspects in the mall robbery.

“We believe it was the Ben Panday's group that staged the heist,” Quibuyen said.

Another suspect, Abubakar Abdul Kader, 31, a former security guard from Maguindanao, was linked to the robbery.

Quibuyen asked Kader to surface to clear his name.