Cavite mall heist suspect arrested

MANILA, Philippines - Government agents arrested over the weekend one of three suspected bank robbers who killed a bank teller and two security guards during a P5-million heist in in a mall in Dasmariñas City, Cavite last Oct. 29.

The suspect, Antonio Loreto, gave himself up peacefully when joint operatives of the National Capital Region Police Office and the National Bureau of Investigation swooped down on his residence in Barangay Victoria Reyes, Dasmariñas City last Saturday morning.

The police-NBI team searched Loreto’s house and recovered a caliber .45 pistol with live bullets and a fragmentation grenade.

One of the witnesses in the bank heist positively identified Loreto as one the three suspects.

Records show the three robbers entered the Dasmariñas mall without the security guards manning the entrance frisking them of their handguns.

Once inside, they blocked the path of three security guards, a bank teller and a representative of a money-changing firm where P5 million in cash was to be delivered.

The robbers shot dead two guards and the bank teller before escaping with the money.