CAGAYAN DE ORO (MindaNews / 11 August) — Policemen were able to catch up with the armed men who robbed a jewelry shop here last week but released them because the letters on the license plate of the getaway vehicle did not match those given by witnesses, Col. Salvador Radam, newly installed director of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office, said.
But Radam said that while the letters on the license plate of the getaway vehicle, a silver gray Toyota Wigo, did not match those given by witnesses, the numbers matched.
He said they have filed criminal cases against the six armed men who robbed the Gold Mega Jewelry Store along J. R. Borja Street last August 2.
“We believed that there were at least four more who acted as lookouts. We want to be sure before including them in the criminal cases we have filed,” he told a security briefing Thursday organized by councilors and businessmen.
Police said the robbers took P9 million worth of gold jewelry after firing shots, injuring a 57-year-old store worker.
The owner of the Toyota Wigo, a businessman from Bonifacio town in Misamis Occidental, surrendered the vehicle last Sunday after pictures of it were posted on social media, police said.
Police spokesperson Col. Evan Viñas said that after staging the robbery the armed men went to the rotunda in Barangay Nazareth where the Toyota Wigo was waiting for them.
Viñas said the group then proceeded to the bridge in Puntod where a police mobile checkpoint was set up immediately after the alarm was sounded.
“There was a confusion about the car plate number. The letters did not match the information provided by the witnesses,” he said.
Radam said responding policemen flagged down the robbers on the bridge between barangays Puntod and Kauswagan minutes after fleeing the crime scene aboard a silver gray Toyota Wigo.
He said the policemen allowed the suspects to go because the letters of the license plate did not match those given by the witnesses, although the numbers did match.
“The color and the car model matched the description given by the witnesses. We are conducting an investigation as to why the policemen did not hold the vehicle and the occupants,” he said.
He added the robbers passed through the checkpoint at the boundary between Cagayan de Oro and Opol, Misamis Oriental but were again allowed to pass through.
The daylight robbery occurred after the police went on high alert as the city government launched the Higalaay Festival, a month of festivities leading up to the August 28 celebration of the Feast of Saint Augustine, Cagayan de Oro’s patron saint.
Radam said at least 150 members of the 800-strong city police force were deployed to secure the Higalaay 2023 Festival Grand Launching at Rio de Boulevard last August 1, the eve of the robbery.
He said most of the police personnel stayed until the wee hours of the morning at the venue where a street party was held.
He said they were drawn from the 10 police precincts of the city, including those assigned in the general vicinity of Gold Mega Jewelry Store.
He said he had relieved Major Julius Saluta, commander of Police Precinct 2, which covers the area of the jewelry store.
Councilor Edgar Cabanlas said the robbers could have known about the deployment and took advantage of the situation.
“The suspects knew there would be no police visibility that morning and had taken advantage to stage the robbery,” Cabanlas said.
Businessman Ruben Vegafria said he and his colleagues are closely watching how the police would handle the investigation.
“We are deeply disturbed by this incident. Many people are concerned, and the local business community is alarmed,” Councilor George Goking, chair of the city council committee on trade and commerce said.
Goking said his office was swamped by text messages from local traders who were alarmed by the brazenness of the armed robbery.“The public expected the police to do better than this,” he said. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)
