Robber caught in gutter

A notorious and elusive robber who used the connecting gutters behind the Commonwealth market in Batasan Hills, Quezon City as his hideout and escape route was cornered like a rat after police used a combination of water and tear gas to flush him out yesterday afternoon.

Oliver Caila, 24, was still reeking with the stench of the tear gas when police hauled him out of a three-foot culvert behind the market hours after he and an unidentified companion robbed a market vendor at gunpoint.

Robert Bitaun, a non-uniformed officer of the Quezon City Police Department’s (QCPD) Batasan Hills station, said Caila had just been released from the East Avenue Medical Center after being stabbed during a brawl in Batasan Hills.

After reaching the Commonwealth market at 2 p.m., Caila and his cohort robbed the vendor, disappeared into the crowd and slipped into the gutter with his loot. His victim followed him and pointed his escape route to the police.

A SWAT team and barangay tanods sealed the culvert’s exit and used a powerful hose to flush Caila and his cohort out of hiding. When water failed to do the trick, they shot two tear gas canisters into the hole. – Perseus Echeminada