Suspects in Bataan bank robbery identified

BALANGA CITY — After 24 days of extensive surveillance, Bataan police operatives announced that they have already identified the alleged suspects in the P2.3 million robbery of Bataan Development Bank last month.

Superintendent Bonifacio Cacho, Bataan police intelligence and investigation chief, identified the suspects as Robert Paasa, Eugene Pespes and Mando Mariacos, all said to be members of "Pespes Gang " based in Baguio City and specializing in bank and pawnshop robberies in Central Luzon and the National Capital Region.

The three suspects belong to the dreaded 10-man robbery-hold-up syndicate which had victimized a number of banks and pawnshops in Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and MetroManila in the past three years.

Cacho said the group, which robbed the BDB last May 28, had just carted away millions of pesos in cash and jewelry from banks and pawnshops in four provinces in Central Luzon and Metro Manila. He said the suspects were also involved in the P500,000 robbery of Pilar Rural Bank branch in Orani, Bataan last May.

He added that the group, whose members have several pending robbery cases, gained notoriety by using acetylene torches bolt cutters to open low-standard bank vaults and destroying the galvanized roof of the their target banks and pawnshops in the wee hours of the morning.

The suspects were positively identified by hotel employees in the police gallery at Camp Olivas in Pampanga.

The witnesses firmly attested that they were the same persons who checked-in and occupied rooms 15 and 18 of the Elison Hotel, located at Aguirre St. in Barangay Poblacion here two days prior to the bank heist.

Police authorities are now readying robbery cases against the suspects before the Provincial prosecutor’s office.