Two computer sets with database software worth P1.4 million were reported missing from a laboratory of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) in Quezon City.
A laboratory analyst identified as Alexander Faustino discovered the theft when he reported for work on Monday at 6:45 a.m. at the Instrument Room-1 Formulation Unit of the National Pesticide Analytical Laboratory inside the BPI compound on Visayas Avenue, the police said.
The stolen computers ran a program that analyzes the chemical content of pesticides, according to Insp. Alan de la Cruz, chief of the Quezon City Police District theft and robbery section. De la Cruz said there were BPI employees who worked overtime during the weekend.
Police investigators lifted fingerprints from the laboratory’s sliding glass window, which was found unlocked, and from the printer placed beside one of the computers that went missing.
Reached by phone, Faustino declined to talk further about the case for lack of clearance from his superiors, but said the incident had left the staff “shaken.”
The BPI is an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture.–Erika Sauler and Ria Consuelo Mendoza