Underground tunnel leading to bank's vault discovered

SANTIAGO CITY, Philippines – An underground tunnel leading to the China Bank branch here was discovered by security guards over the weekend. Police Insp. Pilarito Mallillin said the guards found out about the tunnel after they got curious about the fresh cracks on the floor leading to the bank’s vault that reportedly contained P150 million. “After the security guards suspected that the cracks may have been caused by some diggings underneath, they immediately reported the matter to the police,” Mallillin said. The abandoned tunnel, estimated to be 10 meters long, has widened portions that police suspected to the moving area of the diggers. It was discovered Saturday. “By the looks of it, the diggers may have been on this for two weeks already, mukhang sanay na sanay sila,” Mallillin said. Upon inspection, police were able to recover digging tools used for mining, prompting them to believe that those responsible were members of Baguio City-based vault cutter gang. “We have information that members of the vault cutter gang are now operating in Cagayan Valley since one of their members was killed in Baguio City,” Mallillin said. Mallillin added that Santiago City police had received information that the said group had transferred its base of operations to this city. Because of the incident, Santiago City police director Supt. Reynaldo Sinaon reminded business owners in the city to install burglar alarms inside their premises. - GMANews.TV