3 suspects in BPI bank robbery in July nabbed

MANILA, Philippines – Three of the suspects who staged a robbery on Commonwealth Avenue branch of the Bank of the Philippine Islands last month were arrested, police said Thursday.

Director Samuel Pagdilao Jr., Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief, said that Armando Guno alias “Allan”, 35, Joel Roellano, 39, and Gary Padilla, 32 – members of the Ampang Colangco robbery group – were caught by officers of the National Capital Region Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit and the Quezon City Police District, while allegedly on their way to rob yet another bank, this time in Tomas Morato Avenue in Quezon City at around 2 p.m. last Tuesday.

Senior Superintendent Joel Napoleon Coronel, NCRCIDU chief, said that an informant had tipped them off that the group was planning to pull off another robbery after the one on July 15. The informant said the group targeted a businessman who planned to withdraw a large sum of money from the Tomas Morato branch of Banco de Oro, he stated.

He disclosed that police officers arrested the suspects after they were spotted “driving slowly” towards the bank on board a beige Toyota Vios (ZMR-635).

Seized from the suspects were two MK IV caliber .45 pistols, a Smith and Wesson calibre .38 revolver, a fragmentation grenade, a silencer for a .45 pistol, Guno’s Suzuki motorcycle (4292 ND), and the beige Toyota Vios which was registered under the name of one Dolores Cruz Quizon.

Guno, who led the group at the time of the arrest, admitted to police that he knew a certain Ricky Cadavero alias “Kambal”, said the CIDG. The suspect told authorities that they worked together in other bank robberies, including the one staged July 15. The Cadavero group was on the CIDG’s watchlist for organized crime groups.

Guno also told authorities that their group had links to Waray-Waray, Ozamis and Solid Robbery Groups. He also said that they were also involved in various robberies such as the robberies at NAIADS Gas Station in Mandaluyong City October last year; the Bayad Center branch in Paliparan, Dasmarinas, Cavite; the Western Union branch in Cavite City, the LBC branches in Las Pinas and Baclaran; and other theft cases at Barangay (village) Tungko, San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan. They were also responsible for robbing Indian nationals in Metro Manila and its nearby provinces.

Coronel said that Guno had just been released last June 6 after he was imprisoned for robbery last April.

But the authorities say that their operations did not end with these arrests as information about the group showed that it had around 30 members – 20 to 22 of who were involved in the July 15 bank robbery.

In fact, Coronel said that a fourth suspect, a certain Eduardo Nobleza alias “Komang”, eluded arrest. He was the lone suspect during the July 15 bank heist who did not wear a mask.

Authorities recovered two more caliber .45 pistols during a raid at Nobleza’s hideout – but the suspect was nowhere to be found.

“We are already engaged in follow-up operations,” said the NCRCIDU chief.

QCPD director Chief Superintendent George Regis stated that they were “accounting for them [the suspects] slowly but surely. We are confident that we will arrest most if not all of them.”

Pagdilao said that he has directed the NCRCIDU to go after other syndicates who may have supplied the group’s firearms and getaway vehicles.

A robbery gang made up of 20 to 22 persons took off with roughly P3 million from the BPI Commonwealth branch in Quezon City last July 15.