MANILA, Philippines – Four armed men with scarves wrapped around their heads took at gunpoint a brand new sports utility vehicle from a banker in Mandaluyong City on Friday morning, police said.
The car theives fled aboard the black Ford Everest 2011 with plate number PIY-818 owned by Gaudencio Jose Palomo, 36, case investigator Police Officer 2 Danilo Patoc said.
The victim identified himself to the police as a banker and a fire volunteer residing in Paco, Manila.
Patoc said the robbery happened in front of a restaurant at the corner of Boni Avenue and A. Luna St. in Mandaluyong City at around 5:30 a.m.
He said the victim stopped at a restaurant for breakfast when four men covering their faces with scarves approached him.
They were armed with .45-caliber and 9-millimeter pistols. One man hooked his arm around the banker’s neck and poked him with a gun, Patoc said.
After frisking him, the robbers took a company-issued blackberry cell phone and the car keys. Afterwards, he was ordered to lie on the ground.
In a text message, Palomo told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the robbers planned to abduct him but said he “begged for my life.”
The robbers hastily boarded the SUV and sped off. Apart from the vehicle, they took a Lenovo laptop and a wallet contaning credit cards and P18,000 in cash, Palomo said.
An all-points bulletin has been issued for the arrest of the robbers and recovery of the vehicle, Patoc said.