Cops offer P300K bounty each for 6 Megamall rob suspects
NASRUDIN Andal
ALEX Dimalen
THOMangulamas A MONTH after the SM Megamall jewelry store heist, the Philippine National Police is offering cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of the six robbers, three of whom had been identified with the help of security camera footage.
In a press briefing at the Mandaluyong City police headquarters on Tuesday, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina announced the P300,000 bounty each on Alex Dimalen, Nasrudin Andal and Tho Mangulamas.
Espina said the reward money was raised by civil society groups, which he declined to identify.
The three suspects were posi- tively identified by several witnesses as the ones who carried out the robbery in The Jeweller and F & C Jewelry stores on the ground floor of the mall’s main department store early night of Jan. 26, Espina said.
He said Mangulamas, the group’s leader, was also a suspect in the Aug. 16, 2010 Tambunting pawnshop robbery at Metropoint Mall in Pasay City.
Mandaluyong police chief Senior Supt. Florendo Quibuyen said that based on a ballistics exam, the two .45-cal. bullets recovered at the scene of the Megamall heist matched the four cartridges found at the ransacked Tambunting pawnshop.
Espina said Andal was the one who held the gun and fired the two shots in the mall to scare away shoppers.
Dimalen was the one who bought the wrench in a hardware store in the mall prior to the robbery, police said.
Espina said the three suspects took part in the robbery while they were out on bail in connection with other robbery charges filed against them in different courts.
Their three other cohorts remained unidentified, but Quibuyen said any information leading to their identification and arrest would also entitle tipsters to the same cash reward.
The police urged people who could offer leads to call 09189385871, 5023672 or 6410266. “Wewill ensure the confidentiality of your identity and personal information,” Espina said.