Two of the suspects who pretended to be cops were identified by the driver were also arrested . One of them turned out to be also an employee of the same company transporting the payroll.
Local police chief Supt. Jose Mark Basa said at 12 noon last Friday, Xiao Wegan, sales manager of New Hope San Simon Agricultural Inc. and Jeffrey Galang y Dagdag, driver of their company vehicle, left San Simon town with payroll worth P100,000 for workers at their company branch in Magalang town.
Cruising Barangay San Jose here, four men in police T-shirts and jackets and riding two motorcycles blocked their path and announced a holdup.
The men took off with the payroll and a Sony laptop before fleeing towards Magalang town.
Basa said, however, that his probers noticed unusual behaviour of Galang during investigation. This pushed them to further examine the driver who eventually confessed to being accomplice in the holdup.
Galang identified the other suspects, leading the police to the arrest of Jonef Simbulan, 21, also a sales technician of New Hope San Simon Agricultural Inc. and Raymond Castillo, 24, both of Barangay Sto. Niño in San Simon.
Police were able to recover the payroll although it was not immediately known whether the entire amount was intact. Simbulan was also found in possession of a .38 pistol.
Police are still tracking down the two other suspects whose identities were withheld pending their arrests.
The suspects were charged with robbery-holdup and illegal possession of firearms.
