Robbers hit 2 LBC branches in Agusan del Norte almost simultaneously

The branch of LBC Express Inc. on J.C. Aquino Avenue in Butuan City was closed a few hours after the robbery on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018. (Photo by ERWIN M. MASCARIÑAS / Inquirer Mindanao)

Updated @ 10:59 p.m., Oct. 7, 2018

BUTUAN CITY — Two branches of one of the country’s biggest courier companies were robbed almost simultaneously on Saturday by motorcycle-riding men in the town of Nasipit and on a busy street in this city.

The Butuan City police said the first robbery, on a branch of LBC at J.C. Aquino Avenue in LML Building, was robbed around 1 p.m. by three still unidentified men riding a black and white Honda XRM motorcycle.

An employee of the branch, Alvin S. Amba, was attending to two customers when the robbers arrived with short firearms.

Two of the men declared a holdup while the third stayed outside the branch as a lookout. The three men took off with at least P40,000 of the branch’s earnings.

Lunch break

A witness, who asked he not be named for security reasons, said the suspects apparently waited until the LBC branch opened after a lunch break.

“We did not have a clue it was already happening inside LBC as the robbers just acted like they where just customers of the branch,” one of the witnesses said.

In the town of Nasipit, Senior Insp. Calvin N. Placer Jr. said police were not studying security footage of the robbery in another LBC branch there.

Placer said police got a call that the LBC branch on J.P. Rizal Street in Nasipit was being robbed around 1:57 p.m.

A review of the security footage, however, showed that the robbers arrived around 1:23 p.m. and left after just four minutes, or around 1:27 p.m., according to Placer.

Calm

Placer said, quoting witnesses, that the suspects acted very calmly. He said this was indication that they were professionals.

Like the robbery in Butuan City, at least three suspects robbed the LBC branch in Nasipit.

One suspect wore a baseball cap and all three carried short firearms.

An LBC employee, Christian Dave L. Tion, and three female customers were at the branch at the time of the robbery, Placer said.

Placer said investigators were studying the security footage closely in the hope it would yield more information and “help us solve this case.”

In the Nasipit case, Placer said the suspects apparently knew where the money was hidden as they entered the cubicle where the branch’s earnings were being kept and took cash amounting to P9,145.

The suspects fled on a red and white Honda XRM motorcycle.

“I believe that the robbery in Butuan and in Nasipit were made by two different teams but from the same group,” Placer said. /pdi /atm