MANILA, Philippines–Eight members of the notorious Acetylene gang were caught red handed by police while digging a tunnel leading to a pawnshop before dawn Tuesday in Quezon City.
The gang members, seven male and one female, all native of Mountain Province, were arrested around 12:15 a.m. inside their rented apartment adjacent to Ochoa Realica pawnshop on Villongco Street in Barangay (village) Commonwealth after a two-day stake out by joint operatives of the Cordillera, Urdaneta and Quezon City police.
This led the chief of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) to quip that the robbers were like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.”
“Like in the tale, these suspects come from Mt. Province and Benguet and are miners. Instead of digging for gold, they dig for cash,” said QCPD director Chief Supt. Richard Albano.
At the time of their arrest, five of the men were sleeping while two were inside the tunnel, police said.
“They were taking turns in digging the tunnel when we caught them,” said theft and robbery section head Inspector Alan dela Cruz of the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.
Senior Superintendent Roberto Fajardo, National Capital Region Crime Investigation and Detection Group chief, said the suspects introduced themselves as employees of a telecom company.
Police identified them as Cecille Ibanez, Ortiz Latungan, Eric Secyang, Arthur Bino, Laurence Doyao, Tarex Tayaban, Ruben Sebnangen, Elmo Bustarde.
After carefully planning the heist, Fajardo said the members rented an apartment beside the three-story building.
Prior to the arrest, an alleged leader of the group, Julio Bidking, was arrested in Angeles City, Pampanga at around 4 p.m. Monday.
During interrogation, Bidking confessed that a heist will be carried out in Quezon City, prompting police operatives to stake out the area, which dela Cruz said was a street lined with several pawnshops.
As policemen monitored the area, they noticed and tailed several men coming in and out of a particular house.
The house turned out to be where the suspects were digging a 20 to 25 meter tunnel to the pawnshop at the back portion of the rented apartment.
Seized from the suspects were acetylene tank along with tools for digging and two hand grenades.
Thieves use acetylene, a colorless flammable gas that can cut through metal, to forcibly open vaults.
The suspects will face robbery in band charges, which will be filed before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office. With a report from Julie M. Aurelio, Philippine Daily Inquirer
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