Suspects in China Bank heist charged

Police filed on Friday formal charges against two of the eight armed men, including an alleged police officer, who robbed a China Bank branch in Valenzuela City recently.

Suspects Edgardo Abarico, reportedly a policeman and a native of Irisan, Naguillan, Baguio City, and Pedro Rodica, of Calapan, Mindoro, are now facing robbery with threat and intimidation charges at the Valenzuela City prosecutor’s office.

At least eight armed men, two in police uniform, robbed the China Bank branch located at the corner of Cordero St. and McArthur Highway in Barangay Marulas at around 8:40 a.m. on May 7.

The robbers took from the bank’s vault more than P7 million in cash and also divested the bank employees of their own money and valuables amounting to around P300,000.

The robbers, armed with M-14 and M-16 rifles, used a gray Mitsubishi L-300 van without license plates as their get-away vehicle.

Investigation by the Valenzuela City police led by Senior Superintendent Jose Marcelo resulted in the identification of two of the eight suspects, and the subsequent filing of charges against them.

Abarico was positively identified by a witness as one of the two China Bank robbers in police uniform. Police were also able to establish that Rodica is a member of the notorious Jimmy Dimasalang robbery-holdup group.

Dimasalang, sources said, is a former member of the police Special Action Force (SAF) while one of his henchmen, a certain Rey Mastura, was a former operative of the defunct Metro Drug Enforcement Group (MDEG).

A manhunt is still on against the other suspects.