Band of robbers slain in Batangas shootout

AGONCILLO SHOOTOUT Police say the seven members of a robbery gang slain in a shootout with lawmen in Agoncillo, Batangas, used a single vehicle, a white van, in their operation in the province. PHOTO COURTESY OF BATANGAS PNP

Seven men, suspected to be members of the “Baklas Bubong” group responsible for a series of robberies in Batangas province, were killed in a shootout with policemen in Agoncillo town on Monday, police said.

The gunfight, which happened on a Taal lakeside road at Barangay Banyaga at 4:45 a.m., came after an operation conducted by the provincial police, said Senior Supt. Edwin Quilates, Batangas police director.

The group, branded as such by the police for its style of prying open roofs to enter its target establishments and cutting open the cash vaults, broke into a convenience store and several feed mills in the towns of Taysan, Taal, Agoncillo and Cuenca, and the cities of Lipa and Tanauan, all in Batangas. Its operation was monitored starting December last year.

Breakthrough

The group would take cash as much as P300,000 to P600,000 each time, Quilates said.

The suspects also used the same white van, with plate number TIH 344, during their operation. They wore ski masks or stockings on their faces to avoid recognition.

“We had a breakthrough on [Feb. 23] when they robbed a convenience store. The [image of the] plate number was caught in the [security camera footage],” Quilates said.

He said the vehicle was also “identifiable” because it had two blue LED lights near its side mirrors.

Quilates said they conducted pursuit operations over the last two days until the suspects’ vehicle was seen in Lemery town.

Ignoring checkpoints

But instead of stopping at a checkpoint, the suspects sped past it, prompting the Lemery police to alert authorities in the next town of Agoncillo.

Quilates said the suspects’ vehicle was again flagged down but sped up instead, resulting in a brief chase.

Police said the suspects began to shoot, forcing them to return fire.

Quilates said they did not find anything in the van that might help police identify the suspects. They, however, recovered guns, among them a rifle, and several tools like cutters and grinders.

He said they were still tracking down other gang members who were reportedly hiding in Quezon province and the group’s hideout in Batangas.