6 robbers hit cash remittance outlet

MANILA, Philippines - At least six men robbed a Western Union branch in a commercial area in Sucat, Parañaque City shortly before noon yesterday.

City police chief Senior Superintendent Billy Beltran said two of the robbers barged into the money remittance shop along Lopez Avenue near Dr. A. Santos Avenue while four others acted as lookouts.

The robbers were targeting the shop’s vault. A police patrol team, after receiving a report from traffic officers in the area, responded in minutes, he said.

The lookouts shot at the police officers, hitting the patrol car’s window, Beltran said, adding that the lawmen engaged the robbers in a brief shootout.

The robbers inside the shop scooped the money from the tellers’ drawers, taking around P60,000, before they and the lookouts sped away on motorcycles, Beltran said. Investigators said the robbers also took a customer’s camera and iPod.

“The timely arrival of the police prevented the suspects from taking the big amount of money inside the vault,” he said.

Beltran said two of the robbers have been identified and are the subjects of a police manhunt.

Investigators said they recovered shells from 9mm pistols and Armalite rifles from the crime scene.