QC bank heist captured on CCTV–police
MANILA, Philippines — CCTV cameras of a bank in Quezon City that was robbed Friday recorded the crime carried out by 15 heavily armed men, police said Saturday.
The robbery at the Bank of the Philippine Islands branch at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Don Antonio Heights in Barangay (village) Holy Spirit was “very organized and heavily armed,” said Police Station 6 commander Superintendent Ronnie Montejo.
“They worked very fast. We saw in the CCTV footage that roughly 11 of them went into the bank and declared a hold-up while the rest stayed outside as lookouts. Some of those outside had shot it out with our responding officers who had noticed the commotion while patrolling,” said the police commander.
“They went in, declared a robbery and took money from the tellers. They did not have enough time to get to the vault, they probably heard the gunfight outside,” Montejo added.
Police Officer 1 Amante Cabatec of Police Station 6 said that more or less 15 suspects, toting high-powered firearms, staged the robbery at 4:25 p.m.
He said that the suspects disarmed the three guards in the bank, taking away their .38 caliber handgun, 9-millimeter pistol and radio.
Montejo said there were still some clients inside the branch when the suspects struck but none of them were hurt.
Cabatec said that the robbers fled with a still undetermined amount ofcash but not before shooting at responding policemen.
Montejo said that two bystanders were shot when the suspects encountered the police but were immediately brought to a nearby hospital.
Cabatec also said that the police officers’ guns were no match for the firearms of the suspects who were able to escape.
Citing a police report on the incident, Cabatec said that the suspects carried high-powered firearms like M16, M14, and M203 grenade launcher. They also had handguns, he said.
The robbers fled onboard two getaway vehicles: a blue Toyota Revo (XLV-583) and a red L-300 van (USR-735), said Cabatec.
The police commander said that they were only able to get the statement from the bank manager Friday. He said they were going to get the statements from all other witnesses Saturday.
