Police nab 'termite gang' as tunnel heist of Imus, Cavite banks fails

Three men were arrested for allegedly digging tunnels intended for robbing two banks in Imus, Cavite.

According to a "24 Oras" report by Marisol Abdurahman on Friday, barangay patrol reportedly caught the three suspects climbing out of a manhole along the side of the road.

“Nagtalunan doon po, kaya nila nasita. Eh nagkataon po yung ating mga kapulisan, habang hinahabol nila itong tatlo [habang] nagpapatrol, nakahingi po sila ng tulong at naaresto. Naunsyame po ang balak ng termite gang na magnakaw,” said Imus chief of police Lieutenant Colonel Chey Chey Saulog.

(They all jumped in there, which was why they were apprehended. It just so happened that our police, while they were chasing down these three [during] the patrol, were able to seek help and arrest them. They were able to stop the termite gang’s robbery plans.)

Upon inspection, authorities estimated that the tunnel dug by the suspects spanned 14 meters and was 15 meters away from a bank and 40 meters away from another bank.

They were able to recover several equipment within the tunnels, including a hydraulic jack being used for digging.

“Base po doon sa haba ng hukay na 14 meters is more or less na 2 to 3 days na nilang tinrabaho ito. May posibilidad na may nauna nang naghukay doon, then itong ating nahuli, ito na siguro yung team na papasok doon sa banko,” Saulog said.

(Based on the length of the 14-meter tunnel, they have been working on this for 2 to 3 days. There’s a possibility that someone else had already dug through this, and this other team we caught would’ve been the ones entering the banks.)

One of the suspects said that someone had ordered them to enter the tunnels, but that they were unable to finish the job due to difficulties in navigating the tunnels.

“Pumasok kami doon, tapos malaking tubig… Hindi kaya po. Maliligaw kami kung papasok kami sa maliit na butas, eh di namin kaya… Kaya doon kami sa malaking butas,” said a suspect.

(We entered through there and found water… We couldn’t do it. We would get lost if we entered through the small hole, and we couldn’t do it… That’s why we were passing through the bigger hole.)

“Sa kalsada [kami nahuli]. Harapin na lang [yung kaso]. Ganito rin [ang dating kaso namin],” added another suspect.

([We were caught] along the road. We’ll just face [the case]. [Our previous case] was like this too.)

Authorities are still looking for other suspects at large. —Jiselle Anne Casucian/LDF, GMA Integrated News