The suspects carted away some P1.2 million in a five-minute heist staged on Sept. 2 as bank tellers were conducting their daily cash inventory after the bank closed for the day.
Caloocan City police chief Senior Superintendent Benjardi Mantele commended Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo, chief of the Station Intelligence and Investigation Division (SIID), and detective unit commander Inspector Marcelino Mariano and his follow-up team for the arrest of Eduardo dela Cruz, alias Paquito de la Cruz.
Mantele said De la Cruz was positively identified by Eduardo Pabilonia, a cigarette vendor, as one of three men who served as lookouts during the heist.
After over a week of surveillance, Borromeo and Mariano said they collared the suspect Tuesday at his hideout in Ususan, Taguig.
Mantele said Mariano’s group is hunting down the four other suspects, including the alleged group leaders identified as Ruiz Lim and Calvin Gapito.
The Equitable-PCI Bank located between 8th and 9th Avenue Extension was held up by five persons, including one female who pretended to ask for help in operating the automated teller machine (ATM) from the lone on-duty security guard. – Jerry Botial