CPD: Bonnet Gang behind SM robbery

The Central Police District (CPD) said yesterday that the dreaded "Bonnet Gang" was behind last Saturday’s robbery in SM City which left a security guard dead and two others wounded.

According to Senior Inspector Rodolfo Jaraza, chief of the CPD-Central Investigation Unit, a dismissed military sergeant was the leader of the 15 armed men that carted away at least P4 million in cash and jewelry.

"According to our informants, the leader of the Bonnet Gang is a former sergeant who was removed from the services a few years ago," Jaraza said.

He, however, declined to give further details as it "may jeopardize our mission of capturing the suspects within the week."

There are now at least four cartographic sketches of members of the gang, who have been responsible for a series of robberies in Metro Manila. All are described to be in their 20s or early thirties and none of them stand at less than five-feet-seven.

One of the sketches showed one of the suspects bearing an uncanny resemblance to international terrorist Osama bin Laden, but police said it was just a coincidence.

At least 15 armed men robbed three jewelry stores and a foreign exchange shop at SM City last Saturday at about 10:15 a.m. Robbed were the Brilliant Gems Jewelry store on the mall’s second floor, JP Jewelry, Gems Gallery, and the Million Dollar Exchange Shop – all located on the ground floor.

Jaraza said that the heist was all over in ten minutes. Security guard Antonio Rebato, 51, assigned at the DECS-NCR office beside the shopping mall, was shot dead when the armed men escaped through the mall’s back entrance.

Investigators said that the robbers disguised themselves as delivery boys with boxes that contained M-16 rifles and .45 caliber pistols. They used hammers to smash the glass counters of the jewelry shops.

All of them boarded a Toyota Revo without license plates after shooting Rebato. Reports said that two other people were wounded during the robbery, but they have yet to confirm their identities.