The probers, however, refused to reveal details of their investigation pending the filing of formal charges against those behind the holdup.
The heist took place at about 2 p.m. last Thursday while the cashier and driver of the Rural Bank of Bambang were on their way to deposit the money in the Solano branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).
A passenger, who reportedly just hitched a ride to Solano town, pulled out a gun and told the rural bank’s driver to stop along the national highway in Barangay Abian in Bambang town where his two accomplices, both armed, were waiting.
Cashier Zenaida Raza later identified the hitchhiker as a certain Jimmy Subngay from the pictures shown to her by the investigators.
Subngay, a former soldier, is allegedly a security guard at the RCBC’s Solano branch. The police have yet to identify his two cohorts.
Chief Inspector Peter Cambri, Bambang police chief, said his men are now hunting Subngay and his accomplices who are believed to be still in the province.