Cop behind Davao armored van heist

DAVAO CITY — A security guard pulled it off, but it was a policeman who reportedly masterminded it.

Police have launched a manhunt for security guard Mario Soriano, 41, who single-handedly robbed an Allied Bank armored van of more than P17.5 million in Tagum City, Davao del Norte last Tuesday, and a policeman named Mercado, said to be the robbery brains.

Soriano, along with two other security guards, was escorting the armored van on its way from a shopping mall to Allied Bank’s Tagum branch when he announced the heist.

After handcuffing his fellow guards and the bank manager, he drove the van to the Carmen town boundary and there transferred to a rented Kia Avella where two men were waiting for him. — Edith Regalado