Police station presence fails to deter robbery

ILOILO CITY—The presence of a police detachment just 100 meters from their target did not deter robbers from pulling off a heist at a money transfer shop here last Monday.

The robbers struck at a Western Union branch here and took off with a still undetermined amount of cash.

Three employees of the shop were held at gunpoint but were left unharmed, said Senior Supt. Marietto Valerio, Iloilo City police director.

The robbers waited for the shop’s lone security guard to leave the shop and buy lunch before one of them entered and pretended to be a client. The other suspect stayed at the shop’s entrance,  Valerio said.

The robber held three female employees at gunpoint and ordered them to lie on the floor as he took money from the cash drawers. A client who was inside the store during the robbery was left unharmed.

The shop along Sen. Benigno Aquino Avenue in Mandurriao district is just 100 meters from a police detachment.