Police Nab Six Men in Hot Pursuit After Alleged Robbery at Convenience Store in Gapan City
Six men were arrested after they allegedly robbed a convenience store in Gapan City, Nueva Ecija and fled all the way to the Laguna-Batangas boundary.
According to Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3) director Brig. Gen. Jess Mendez, the suspects, aged 19 to 22, entered an Alfamart branch in Barangay Pambuan at around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 10, GMA News reported.
The men reportedly pretended to be customers before one of them pointed a gun at the cashier. The group allegedly took the store’s cash along with the employees’ cellphones and tied up the victims with cable ties.
The employees managed to free themselves and reported the incident to the Gapan City Police Station at around 10:10 p.m.
“Pinasok dito yung convenience store, tinutukan ‘yung cashier, then umalis sila. Then good thing, nai-report naman agad,” Mendez said. (They entered the convenience store, aimed a gun at the cashier, then left. Good thing it was reported right away.)
Police tracked the suspects’ van using CCTV footage from the store and along their escape route, the Daily Tribune reported. After a chase of about four hours, the vehicle was intercepted near the boundary of Alaminos, Laguna and Santo Tomas, Batangas early Wednesday morning, November 11.
Recovered from the group were four handguns, four grenades and around P35,000 allegedly taken from the store, The Philippine Star reported. Police also seized license plates believed to have been used to switch the van’s plates and avoid detection.
Police identified the alleged leader of the group as Janmar Ricafranca, who reportedly has two outstanding warrants of arrest for carnapping and robbery in band.
Mendez said the suspects, who were reportedly staying in Taguig, are also being linked to other convenience store robberies in San Mateo and Rodriguez, Rizal.
Criminal charges are being prepared against the six suspects while authorities continue to investigate their possible involvement in other robbery incidents.
In a previous post, a convenience store robbery suspect was killed in an encounter in Batangas.
