Bataan cops foil robbery try on a mart

BALANGA CITY – Police authorities have arrested eight suspected robbers including two minors while ransacking the main office of a chain of supermarkets in the province located at Barangay Arellano, Orion town, about 200 meters away from the town hall, on Sunday.

Senior Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan, Bataan police director, told The STAR that the suspects were caught red-handed while carting away a steel safety vault reportedly containing cash collections from three other branches of Elizabeth Bakery and Grocery Stores in Dinalu­pihan town and Balanga City.

Police are still waiting for the owner, Elizabeth Sioson, to open the vault which allegedly contains cash collections on Friday and Satuday sales.

A female concerned citizen called up the police after noticing a group of men entering the main gate of the supermarket in the early morning of Sunday. A crack police team was immediately sent to the supermarket and blocked all possible exit route.

The suspected robbers were surprised by the arrival of police operatives while they were then pushing the tricycle loaded with safety vault out of the compound. A suspect armed with a -12 gauge shot gun taken from the lone security guard tried to shoot it out with the approaching policemen, however, one of the responding lawmen was smart enough to shoot him in both legs.

Gaerlan identified the suspects as Delfin Cuevas, 28, master baker; Michael Facto­ran, 18, jobless; Ramir Lovi­dioro, 39, tricycle driver; Ardhel Almazan, 18, jobless ; Jimmy Asideria, 32, vendor; Abelardo Din, 43, jobless and two minors, whose ages ranging 15 and 16, both of them out-of-school-youth, all residents of the upland village of Bilolo, Orion town, Bataan.    – Raffy Viray