QC cops pose as mall rats to test guards’ feel for guns

Of the four armed “mall rats,” only two got caught.

This was the result of the test conducted on Friday by the Quezon City Police District on the security force of one of the shopping malls in the city, an exercise prompted by the Jan. 26 robbery at another mall where an armed group was able to sneak past the guards.

Four QCPD plainclothesmen concealing pistols tried to enter Robinsons Magnolia mall on Aurora Boulevard, where a guard also figured in a shoot-out with two tire thieves just outside the establishment on Jan. 30.

Insp. Elmer Monsalve, homicide section chief, said he hid his .45-cal. pistol in the crotch area of his jeans and was able to get past the guards at the main entrance “twice.”

“I went straight inside each time. They did not notice (the gun) when they frisked me. The metal detector alarm even went off,” the official said.

PO2 Julius Balbuena of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) also got in with the .40-cal. pistol in his crotch area undetected.

Like Monsalve, Balbuena successfully went in twice. “They checked my backpack but didn’t find the gun hidden in my pants,” he said.

But two other policemen from CIDU got caught: One had his gun in a holster tucked in his waistband, while the other hid his pistol in a small sling bag.

The four policemen used the mall’s Aurora Boulevard entrance.

QCPD director Senior Supt. Richard Albano said mall security must be tested to avoid a repeat of the daring robbery of a jewelry store inside SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City last month.

The QCPD will be sending out more plainclothesmen for such tests to keep the guards at other Quezon City malls on their toes, he said.

“We are not here to discredit the security of the malls. This should serve as a warning and a lesson to mall security,” Albano said, adding that the results and recommendations arising from such tests will be shared with the mall managers.