‘Termite Gang’ robs La Union bank of P1-M

By Erwin Beleo

BAUANG, La Union – Suspected members of the notorious ‘Termite Gang’ who robbed the Summit Bank of P913,000 here in Barangay Central East night of May 24 are still unidentified. Bauang policemen said the robbers entered a drainage canal from where they bore a hole that led broke through the concrete flooring of the cash department of the bank

Police investigators learned from bank management that the bank had no security guard at the time of the incident and the line of the closed-circuit TV camera was cut. A security guard was only assigned during the day while the CCTV was off overnight.

 Investigators discovered that the suspects cut the line of the alarm and the CCTV before the robbery. Police recovered at the area hardware materials possibly used by the suspects.

In Baguio City on May 17, still unidentified thieves, believed members of the Termite Gang , dug a tunnel from a canal around seven meters away and opened a hole at the floor of the Pizza Hut fastfood establishment along Marcos Highway and ran away with P49,000 from the cashier’s machine.

 A police report said the theft was discovered around 8 a.m. on May 17. Like most suspected Termite Gang heists, police said suspects dug a hole connected from the canal about seven meters away from the main entrance of the said establishment and opened a hole at the flooring as entry point and took P49,000 collection money.

The case is still under investigation. The Termite Gang is believed composed of highlanders whose expertise is to dig underneath establishments like banks in their heists in Manila and other parts of the country. Some years ago, still unidentified thieves made a tunnel underneath the Tiong San Department Store in Baguio along Magsaysay Road and ran away with cash and items worth millions of pesos.