To ensure that they would be able to make a clean getaway, two men who robbed a one-stop shop payment and remittance center in Marikina City on Tuesday made their female victims take off their shirts to prevent them from running after them.
Authorities said the robbers who have yet to be identified first posed as customers of 1BRO Express Marikina—a one-stop shop offering bills payment, money remittance and online ticketing—at Rosabel Arcade on Marcos Highway, around 3:30 p.m. Shortly after, they announced a heist and started divesting the victims of their valuables.
Both suspects were described by the victims as around 5’10 in height and with dark complexion. One of them had pimple marks while the other was described as having Indian features.
According to the police, the robbers who were reportedly armed with a cal. .45 pistol and cal. .38 revolver tied up Rachel Malapid, the owner of the establishment, and her staff members Rose Anne Elicay and a 17-year-old girl using packaging tape and the victims’ cell phone chargers.
Marikina police public information head Insp. Edwin Malabanan said that the suspects made off with the establishment’s earnings of around P35,000, two Apple laptops, three cell phones, a projector, two wristwatches and a white gold necklace.
He added that before the robbers left, they ordered the victims to take off their shirts so that the women would not be able to chase them as they made their escape.
The women said they were able to free themselves after a few minutes and call for help. The police were still trying to identify the two men using the footage taken by a closed circuit television camera in a nearby store.