MANILA, Philippines?Police have identified five of the 13 men who robbed an armored van parked at a mall in Taguig City two weeks ago.
Two of those identified, Nestor Mutia and Romeo Baluran, were arrested last week. The rest, however, remain at large.
Taguig police chief, Superintendent Alfred Corpus, said witnesses were able to identify three of the suspects by looking at the police file of criminals? photographs.
Bobby Baliber, Michael Damolo, Cristy Llanos, together with Mutia and Baluran, were tagged as members of the Lahay-Lahay and Colanco groups.
The five, along with the eight other unidentified robbers, were charged Monday at the Taguig City Prosecutor?s Office with robbery in band and multiple frustrated homicide.
The 13 men robbed a Chinabank armored van parked at the Market! Market! mall in Fort Bonifacio Global City on July 11.
The group, which was armed with long and short firearms, made off with around P3 million in cash.
The armored van was carrying money which was to be loaded into automated teller machines (ATMs) on the mall?s second floor.
Two bank tellers, Paolo Aguilar and Elmer Carillo, riding in the van were injured in the incident as well as two security guards identified as Rene Boy Pader and Samuel Cacho.
One of the tellers was later able to positively identify Llanos as the one who had shot him with a handgun,? Corpus said in his four-page report to Mayor Freddie Tinga.
Baliber, on the other hand, was tagged by another witness as the one who had poked a gun at one of the van's security escorts.
Baliber is an alleged member of the Lahay-Lahay robbery group which had been linked to various robbery incidents in the cities of Pasay and Parañaque from 2007 up to the first half of this year.
Another witness, a security guard, also positively identified Llanos, Damolo and Mutia as among the men who held up the armored van.
Mutia and Baluran were arrested on July 17 after the police rounded up residents violating the city ordinance on drinking liquor in public places.
During an investigation, the police received information that Mutia and Baluran were involved in the armored van robbery. Their participation in the incident was confirmed when they were positively identified by witnesses, Corpus said in his report to Tinga.