M’daue robbery linked to Ozamis crime ring

The robbers of APL Logistics office, which is a block away from the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), were linked to a crime ring in Misamis Occidental.

Security camera footage of the office led police to the identities of at least two suspects—Reynante Parracuelles and Claudio Castillo from Ozamis City where the Kuratong Baleleng originates.

Mandaue police investigators are coordinating with the Police Regional Office 10 based in Cagayan de Oro and counterparts in Ozamiz City.

A money bag that was used to hold the P300,000 loot from the international freight and cargo forwarding company was found abandoned in Nivel Hills, Cebu City.

The cash was gone but robbers left behind checks worth about half a million pesos, which they couldn’t encash after the Wednesday robbery.

The bag could mean the robbers escaped toward the mountain area of Cebu City or it could be a ploy to misdirect the ongoing manhunt for the robbers, said Insp. Ramil Morpos, chief of the Mandaue City’s Theft and Robbery Section (TRS).

Morpos said an inside-job is one theory being pursued and that someone may have tipped off the the perpetrators who knew the right time to strike, when money in APL Logistics was supposed to be taken out and deposited in the bank.

Police said the robbers could belong to the Cabando faction of the Kuratong Baleleng, which figured in high-profile bank robberies in Manila in 2008 and was linked to last year’s robbery of an armored van in Robinsons Place in Cebu City.

Mandaue policemen plan to meet business owners and managers in the city to discuss how to increase security in their establishments.

Morpos said that security guards and security cameras may not be enough to counter daring crime syndicates that operate with precision and are well armed.

He suggested that businesses install alarm systems connected to the nearest police station so the police can respond quickly to a a crime.

In Wednesday’s holdup of APL, Mandaue police learned of the robbery through a phone call from the Traffic Management Unit where the incident was first reported.