Ex-guard arrested in bank ATM robbery

MANILA, Philippines - A former security guard was arrested on Monday in connection with a P2.4-million robbery at a Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) automated teller machine (ATM) terminal on Aurora Boulevard in Quezon City.

Normil Bolong was arrested by agents of the Quezon City Police District’s criminal investigation and detection unit (CIDU) at the Wells Fargo Center in Taguig City, according to Inspector Alan dela Cruz, chief of the QCPD’s theft and robbery section.

He said Bolong is a former guard of the G4S Cash Solutions Philippines Inc., a multi-national security outsourcing provider of BPI. G4S provided the QCPD with photographs of its former and current employees.

Through his personal data sheet, Bolong was identified by witnesses as one of the men who took the money from the ATM.

Prior to Bolong’s arrest, CIDU operatives learned from the Pateros police that a similar case occurred at a BPI ATM booth on B. Morcialla street in Barangay Poblacion in July 2013, wherein more than P1 million was stolen.

Dela Cruz said the suspects in the 2013 ATM robbery were also employees of G4S.

The Pateros police provided the QCPD police with photos of the suspects in the 2013 ATM robbery, but none of them were identified by witnesses as the men in the latest ATM heist.