Manhunt on against Ceres bus robbers
The Anilao Police Station is pursuing the six men who held-up a Ceres Liner bus Tuesday evening along Brgy. Dangula-an, some nine kilometers from Anilao town, Iloilo.
Four of the assailants posed as passengers of the bus with plate number KVF-220 plying the route Estancia-Iloilo City.
PO1 Rodolfo Prudente said the robbers flagged down the bus along Sitio Bugtong Bato, Brgy. Culasi in Ajuy town, and one of them took a seat near the door.
The other settled near the driver’s side while the remaining two seated themselves at the back.
Upon reaching Brgy. Dangula-an at around 7 p.m., the four alighted the bus only to board seconds later already wearing bonnets and declared a hold-up.
The man near the driver then pulled a gun and poked it on driver Allan de la Cruz of Sara, Iloilo.
The two also pulled their weapons and started to strip the 29 passengers of their cash and valuables.
The bus conductor, Marlon Lampa, was ordered to leave the vehicle.
One of the men then divested him his daily collections amounting to around P15,000.
Prudente said the robbers looted from the passengers some P61,000 as well as nine mobile phones. They also took $1,500 from passenger Jet Lagradante of Banate, Iloilo.
No passenger was harmed.
After the heist, the robbers boarded two motorcycles driven by their two companions.
The motorcycles apparently tailed the bus but the passengers were not certain from which area the men started to follow the bus.
The six sped off and made a left turn some 100 meters towards the mountainous village of Cag-an, Ajuy.
“From there, they could make a lot of exits,” Prudente said.
Police investigators claimed they already have the identities of the robbers but refused to name them, so as not to jeopardize the ongoing probe.
But Prudente said that the robbers know the area well. He admitted that all six could just be living “in the area and were also suspects of previous robbery incidents.”
