Bohol Provincial Police Office (BPPO) chief Col. Osmundo Salibo said they are eyeing multiple “persons of interest” (POIs) in the series of highway robberies in the province in which various companies have lost over P1 million to the suspects.
Salibo, in an interview over station dyRD on Monday, said the eight delivery truck robberies conducted in a span of less than a week from July 19 to 23 may have been carried out by a single group.
Although each robbery was done by only two motorcycle-riding men who rode in tandem, the police director believed that there are more than two people in the robbery group considering the volume of the holdups.
During the commemoration of the Bohol Day on July 22, three robbery incidents transpired in the towns of Guindulman, Loon and Baclayon.
“Yung mode nila of the commission of the crime is using a motorcycle, at riding in tandem yun. Pero maaring group kasi merong time on July 22 when we were busy with the Bohol Day at yung concentration natin nandoon dahil invited din si VP Sara [Duterte] and sad to say tatlong robbery incidents ang nangyari on that day,” said Salibo.
Salibo added that the same group of suspects may have also been behind the series of robberies between December, 2021 and February this year.
The robberies stopped when the alleged leader of the robbery group was killed in February while some of his cohorts were charged in court.
“Actually, re-search na ito kasi may search na tayo noong nakaraan dahil last December nagstart yung robbery at nagsunod-sundo din tayo nuon,” said Salibo.
The slain alleged robbery leader referred to by Salibo was Kim Arimas, 48.
He was among those charged for the series of armed robberies against delivery vans in Tubigon, Pilar and Candijay in January.
Authorities believed that his death resulted from in-fighting within the robbery group.
“May mga cases nan a-file tayo noon at tumigil for several months ang [robberies] at yung sinusundan natin na leader ng grupo noon napatay at ang balita ay baka sila-sila ang nagpatayan,” Salibo said.
“Last December nag start yung surge ng robbery then several months after may mga napatay sakanila at may na file-an ng case kay nag lay low and here comes a chance again to commit robbery,” he added.
According to Salibo, he has ordered all chief of police to intensify their intelligence and surveillence operations in a bid to identify and locate the suspects.
He also called on company owners to hire security guards to help secure their delivery trucks.
“I’m requesting the businessmen to provide security also to those collecting money for them kasi humahawak ng malalaking halaga ng pera yan,” said Salibo.
Meanwhile, the BPPO working closely with the provincial government under Gov. Aris Aumentado to address the issue.
Provincial gov’t alarmed
According to Salibo, the BPPO is scheduled to conduct a case conference with the provincial government this week.
“We have the executive assistant of no less than the governor kasi ang ating governor ay naalarma na din, including the vice governor. They have been texting me during the weekend. We are looking into this seriously,” said Salibo.
Police chiefs of towns in which a robbery incident transpired within the past week were also invited to the conference.
The following are the reported robberies from July 19 to 23:
- Getafe – Deliver salesman with P40,000 (July 19, 2022)
- Carmen – Magnolia Chicken with P390,000 (July 20, 2022)
- Duero – Alturas Group of Companies with P153,000 (July 20, 2022)
- Loboc – JTI Marketing with P27,000 (July 21, 2022)
- Guindulman – Packman Enterprises with P70,000 (July 22, 2022)
- Loon – San Miguel Corporation with P80,000 (July 22, 2022)
- Baclayon – VT Beverages with P90,000 (July 22, 2022)
(R. Tutas, A. Doydora)