Rural bank loses P1-M to robbers over the holiday
SAN PEDRO CITY — A rural bank in San Pablo City in Laguna province lost at least P1 million to robbers who gained access to the vault through an underground tunnel.
Supt. Gil Torralba, police chief of San Pablo, said the robbery at the Rural Bank of Seven Lakes in Barangay (village) II-E was discovered only on Tuesday around 7:30 a.m. after a couple of days that the bank was closed for the Yuletide season.
He said the janitor, Alijandro Alinea, was the one who discovered the access from a drainage canal that led to the bank’s vault.
Torralba, in a phone interview, said the bank declared losing at least P1 million.
He said an investigation is underway but described the suspects’ modus as similar to that of the “termite gang,” or bank robbers digging up an underground tunnel in order to access the facility. /je
