MANILA, Philippines - Authorities could have uncovered the furtive and meticulous operations of a notorious robbery gang said to be behind several audacious heists in Metro Manila if its purported leader was captured alive, Philippine National Police Chief Jesus Verzosa said Friday.

According to Verzosa, Alvin Flores could have provided the police with vital information that may help the PNP put an end to the existence of robbery groups masquerading as police and military personnel.

?It is unfortunate that he got killed. If he lived, maybe he can tell a lot of things about the different activities or different operations that they conducted,? Verzosa said in a news briefing at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

With the loss of their supposed chief planner, Verzosa created ?tracker teams? to arrest the remaining members of a dreaded organized crime group named after the slain gang leader.

He also directed intelligence police units to launch nationwide manhunt operations against Flores? henchmen who, he said, might form another group of robbers.

?We have to account for the other remaining members of the group and we have fanned out different teams to arrest them,? Verzosa said.

Verzosa said the killing of Flores was ?a big blow? to the group?s operations, saying the incident would lead to a sharp decline in the number of robberies in Metro Manila and nearby provinces perpetrated by armed men clad in police uniform.

Along with three of his alleged associates, Flores was killed in Cebu after he supposedly traded gun shots with National Bureau of Investigation agents who tried to arrest him.

Police had earlier tagged Flores? gang as behind the brazen midday attack on a Rolex shop in the ritzy Greenbelt 5 mall in Makati City two weeks ago.

The syndicate was also said to be responsible for over 40 other high profile robberies since last year, such as the bloody December 2008 Parañaque shootout that left 16 people, including a 7-year-old girl and his seaman father, dead.