Toy gun used in robbing courier service of P130,000

MANILA, Philippines – Two men, one of them armed with what turned out to be a toy gun, robbed a remittance and money transfer station in Manila of more than P130,000 on Thursday evening, police said.

And, as if adding insult to injury after terrifying employees of the LBC branch at the J&T Building on Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard near Santol Street in Sta. Mesa, the robbers threw away the toy gun as the fled with their loot.

Senior Police Officer 2 William Gondranios of the Manila Police District theft and robbery section said that the robbery happened at around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, as customer associate Linder Mista, 38, was closing shop.

Gondranios said Mista was accosted by two men while he was locking the doors.  One of the men brandished what appeared to be a .45-caliber pistol and ordered the LBC employee to open the doors.

The other man stood watch as his companion ordered Mista to empty the drawers of cash and to place the money inside a bag.  After the drawers had been ransacked, the robbers fled and threw away the pistol, leaving behind the stunned employee who immediately reported the incident to the police.

Gondranios and other investigators of the MPD theft and robbery section later recovered the pistol, which turned out to be a toy pellet gun closely resembling a .45-caliber pistol.

Mista told investigators that he could have fought off the gun-toting man had he known it was a toy, pointing out that the pistol looked like the real thing.

The LBC branch in Manila was robbed a day after two knife-wielding men robbed another LBC branch at  the Robinsons Mall in Fairview, Quezon City, also at about closing time.