Bank had CCTV problem prior to ‘termite gang’ theft

After digging a hole 2 feet in diameter, the thieves forcibly opened the vault inside the bank in Barangay Greater Fairview, Quezon City, police said. —RADYO INQUIRER PHOTO

The police called their type members of a “termite gang” — to describe how they dug their way into the place they planned to loot.

Tunneling thieves managed to enter a China Bank branch in Quezon City over the weekend and took an undisclosed amount of cash from the vault, the police said on Monday.

Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, chief of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), noted that the security agency serving the branch received a report from the management on Saturday that it was having problems with its alarm system and closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs).

“We are considering all angles, including the possibility that this was an inside job,” Eleazar said.

The theft was discovered around 7:30 a.m. on Monday at the China Bank branch at the corner of Camaro Street and Commonwealth Avenue in Barangay Greater Fairview.

The opening of a tunnel about 0.6 meters (2 feet) in diameter was found inside, near the entrance. The thieves were believed to have started digging from a spot along the drainage system on Commonwealth, Eleazar said.

Investigators have checked the drainage line and recovered two crow bars, two long screwdrivers, and a miner’s helmet which is fixed with a flashlight, the official said.

One of the CCTV digital recorders that were detached from the cameras in the bank was also found in the drainage system.

It will be submitted to the anticybercrime group of the Philippine National Police for examination, Eleazar said.

The QCPD chief recalled that similar methods had been used to break into establishments in the city and in neighboring Marikina last year, but those who entered the China Bank branch might not necessarily be from the same group.