Same riders behind 2 separate street robberies in Valenzuela, say cops

Police in Valenzuela City believe that two separate armed street robberies of students were carried out by the same motorcycle-riding individuals.

In Jonathan Andal's report on 24 Oras Weekend on Sunday, CCTV footage that has gone viral shows a 16-year-old student on her way to school in Barangay Marulas being waylaid by two individuals on a motorcycle. The footage shows the rider getting off the bike, grabbing her arm, and immediately pointing a gun at her.

The robbers took her bag but she was able to keep her cellphone.

The incident occurred on March 20 at 6 a.m. Four days earlier, in the early hours of March 16, two students had just left their boarding house when they were approached by two riders on a motorcycle.

The riders could be seen on CCTV speaking to them, but it was just a pretext to rob the students at gunpoint. The cellphone of one of the students, a 20-year-old, was taken.

Neither incident was immediately reported to the police, but the authorities learned of it after the video spread on social media.

"Yung dalawang victim natin normal naman sila...Napanatag naman ang kanilang kalooban," said Valenzuela police chief Police Colonel Salvador Destura.

"Hopefully the soonest possible time ma-identify din natin itong mga suspect na ito...We dispatched our tracker team at...nasusundan naman nila."

The police have met with the school the students attend, and have added more checkpoints on the roads.

Four volunteer groups have also joined the barangay tanods making the rounds from night to early morning.

"Rest assured po na ginagawa po namin ang lahat upang maproteksyon po ang ating community," Destura said. — BM, GMA Integrated News