Man linked to moneychanger shop heists slain

MANILA, Philippines - A robbery suspect who allegedly belonged to a gang tagged in a series of heists involving moneychanger shops all over Metro Manila has been killed, according to a police report obtained by The STAR.

Ryan Buenacosa, 29, was killed in his neighborhood in Barangay Malaya, Banga, South Cotabato on Jan. 14.

Police records show Buenacosa was a suspect in a robbery at a branch of Sanry’s Moneychanger at the Metropoint Shopping Center in Pasay City in December 2010.

Based on the report obtained by The STAR, Buenacosa was shot by Marlon dela Cruz, a resident of the same barangay. The local police said the killing was connected to an “old grudge.”

On the day of the killing, it was supposedly the victim who went to the suspect’s house and challenged him to a fight. Dela Cruz allegedly shot the victim twice before fleeing. A South Cotabato court is trying him for murder.

When suspects Willy Enriquez and Roger Solapco were arrested for the 2010 Pasay City moneychanger robbery, Solapco pointed to Buenacosa as the one who approached him to provide a motorcycle to be used for the job.

In January 2012, policemen arrested Buenacosa in South Cotabato. The suspect later apparently posted bail.

Following their arrest days after the robbery in Pasay, Enriquez and Solapco posted bail and figured in another robbery in February 2012 – this time in Quezon City. The band of robbers hit another branch of Sanry’s in Robinson’s Galleria.

A month after the robbery, policemen arrested Enriquez and Erenio dela Cruz in a town in Iloilo, where the two had reportedly sought refuge following the mall heist.

The mug shots of Enriquez and Solapco for the robbery in Pasay were shown to witnesses, leading to their identification in the heist in Robinson’s Galleria.

Solapco and Alexander Montenejo, who was seen staking out the Ortigas mall before the heist, remain at large.