Guard IDs suspect in Western Union rob

The police has pin-pointed one of the suspects of the robbery at the Western Union Money Transfer outlet at uptown Cebu City last Saturday as the security guard, yesterday, identified Jemuel Cardoza alias Roldan Villanueva as one of those who stormed their establishment.

The guard, Milbert Ambos, identified Cardoza from the photographs shown by Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Branch Chief Paul Labra. Cardoza used to be one of the cohorts of suspected notorious robber, Rey Torres, who is now detained at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC).

The establishment, which is located at Raintree mall along Ramos Street, was robbed by four armed men of an estimated P800,000 in cash including US dollar bills the other day.

Last Saturday night, Theft and Robbery Section Chief Ambrosio Ibones told the Freeman that they have shown to the employees pictures of the remnants of the Rey Torres robbery group such as Junard Saladaga, Jemuel Cardoza, Nando Abapo and Vlademir Gamanay, but none of them had been identified.

There were also pictures of other police personalities that where shown, but still yielded negative result according to Ibones prompting him to suspect that this could be a new group now operating in the city.

According to Labra the same pictures would also be shown again to the employees of the establishment because there is a tendency that they were just confused that time so that they failed to identify any.

The strategy somehow worked with the positive identification made by the security guard.

Labra said, the way the heist was pulled off revealed similarities to the way Torres and Limotan operated in the past particularly the use of motorcycles and handguns.

"Mao ra man gyud na mga modus gihapon. Una magmotor aron dali ra makalusot lusot unya dili na sila mopalayo tungod kay sa next corner naa nay lain nga motorcycle nga nagpaabot to confuse the police. Second, handguns ra gyud para dili matiktikan ug dili sad bulky," Labra explained.

Also last Saturday, Ibones observed that there were similarities between the latest heist to that of the Cebu People's Development Cooperative incident along Junquera Street last October 6 where P80,000 worth of cash and valuables were been carted away.

Ibones pointed out that in both robberies there were four men, the guards were disarmed and neutralized and there were incidental firings in the haste of the perpetrators to get the job done.

While Ibones said the group responsible is "professional" especially that the heist was done in just three minutes, he had doubts on the capability of the group because of the incidental firings that would mean they are just new in the trade.

But Labra explained that if indeed that those responsible are remnants of Limotan's group, the incidental firings were expected because when Limotan was still active, these four men probably played only minor roles in the robberies such as being drivers and lookouts.

Originally, Limotan and Torres, who were arrested in Mindanao by an elite team of operatives led by Labra few months ago, allegedly belonged to the same robbery group.

Intelligence reports suggested then that after being together in several heists in Metro Cebu last year, Torres and Limotan had a falling out due to three reasons - love triangle, unequal distribution of loot, and a cal. .45 pistol, which was reportedly stolen by Limotan from Torres.

That was the time that sub-groups were formed wherein both Torres and Limotan led groups of their own. Cardoza together with Saladaga, Gamanay and the late Jemar Mansalinog reportedly joined the group of Torres.

Joining Limotan was Abapo, who last December was charged for the heist at Ace Investment also located at Raintree Mall wherein they were believed to have run away with an estimated P200, 000 in cash and dollars.

Labra believes that these four men he suspected to be responsible in the latest heist were actually part of that December robbery, after all there were six men and a woman who were said to have been part in that operation. - Ryan P. Borinaga