3 months after CDO branch heist forwarding firm robbed

CEBU, Philippines - A forwarding company based in Mandaue City lost cash worth P360,000 and mobile phones to robbers yesterday morning.

The subject of the heist, APL Corporation Pte. Ltd. and APL Logistics Phils. Inc., which is located at the corner of Andres Soriano Avenue and J. Briones Street, is just 200 meters away from the Mandaue City Police Office.

The incident happened about 8:45 am.

SPO2 Marcos Noval said that based on the video captured by the CCTV camera, it only took the five suspects four minutes to carry out the robbery.

The video showed that the suspects entered the office with brown envelopes in hand. As it turned out, the brown envelopes contained the firearms and cable wires that the suspects used to tie the firm's employees after declaring a hold-up.

One of the suspects hit the head of the security guard, Genesis Maro, grabbed his gun and hogtied him as another suspect hogtied Junrey Cuico, a warehouseman.

The suspects then proceeded to the office of Erwin Villarin, the logistics head, and took away his P1,500 cash and Samsung mobile phone. They also brought Villarin to outside and made him lie on the floor face down with the other employees.

The suspects also went to the office of the company manager, Lea Constantino, and pointed a gun at her and five other employees as they ordered the cashier to open the company vault. From there, the suspects took away cash worth P353,000.

Another suspect also took away P5,000 cash and two mobile phones from one employee just before the robbers left the office in a hurry.

Witnesses said the suspects boarded a Yamaha Mio and an XRM motorcycle parked a few meters away from the firm's office. They reportedly fled toward the wharf and left the area passing by the office of the Land Transportation Office in Barangay Looc.

Investigative and Detective Management Bureau (IDMB) Chief PC/Insp. Michael Anthony Bastes said the robbers belong to a well-organized robbery group responsible for robbing the APL branch in Cagayan de Oro last January 11.

The heist was also carried out on a Wednesday morning and the suspects carted away P3.2 million.

Bastes said the suspects may still be in Cebu and a manhunt operation is ongoing for their arrest.

Bastes said the four security guards of the Southern Port Security Agency and the driver of an armored van and security guards of the Mandarin Security Agency will be included in the investigation because they were reportedly aware of the time the money was delivered to the forwarding firm. 

The incident reached the Mandaue Police 15 minutes after it happened. An employee of the firm said all of them were in panic at that time that no one informed the police right away after the robbers left.

It was Dicker Caballero, one of the employees, who sought the help of a traffic enforcer who, in turn, informed the police office. — (FREEMAN)