Superintendent Erickson Velasquez, Mandaluyong City police chief, said their follow-up operations against the five holdup men in the Mercury Drug heist has turned up negative.
Velasquez, however, said that they were still pursuing the search for the wounded robber in the hospitals in Metro Manila, hoping that there will be developments later.
The five robbers, armed with caliber .45 revolvers, walked into the Mercury Drugstore branch along Kalentong Avenue in Mandaluyong at around 8:50 a.m. on Saturday, disarmed the store’s two security guards and announced a heist.
One of the robbers promptly entered the office of branch manager Cora Gulapa Ching, 42, and at gunpoint, ordered her to open the store’s vault and emptied its content of cash.
The robbers were about to make their escape through their get-away Enduro motorcycles when responding policemen opened fire at them and hit one of the robbers.
To buy time, one of the robbers reportedly pulled out a sheaf of cash from their loot bag and scattered it on the road, causing a mad scramble for the money by bystanders.
The ensuing commotion enabled the fleeing robbers to help their wounded companion onto the motrobike and escape.
Velasquez admitted that the search for the wounded suspect, who is expected to seek treatment for a gunshot wound, is the tack being pursued by the police to track down the robbers.