LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — A 19-year-old resident of Barangay Malimpuec in Lingayen is now under investigation after his arrest Wednesday in a failed attempt to rob the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) branch inside the Columban Plaza Arcade here.
Supt. Jackson Seguin, chief of police of Lingayen, identified the suspect as Wilkin Daves Austria, who was caught red-handed inside a room of St. Joseph Medical Clinic located at the second floor of St. Columban Plaza, where he hid himself.
Initial investigation disclosed that the suspect entered Columban Plaza at past 3:00 a.m. on January 11 and went briefly to Rams Fitness Gym, one of the establishments at the second floor of the building.
The police found Austria to have entered the plaza by forcibly destroying the wooden ceiling of Novo Coe Fashion House, another shop inside.
Then with the use of a hammer, chisel and iron saw, he broke the concrete wall of RCBC.
While inside the bank, the suspect forcibly detached/disabled the alarm control panel, and switched off the control circuit breaker of the electric power of the bank, an act electronically detected by RCBC head office in Manila.
RCBC Manila immediately alerted the Lingayen Police over the incident and the latter went on to conduct an investigation.
While inside the bank, Austria destroyed the glass cabinet of the Close Circuit Television (CCTV) and tried to open the bank cash vault but failed.
Failing, he went to hide in one of the rooms at St. Joseph Clinic where policemen located him.
PO2 Eusebio Soriano of the Lingayen police conducted body search on the suspect and confiscated from him two small heat-sealed of transparent plastic sachets containing suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.
The police are yet to determine whether Austria acted alone or in collaboration with others whose names are yet to be determined.
The suspect is now lodged at the Lingayen police jail pending the filing of appropriate charges against him. Leonardo Micua/PNA-northboundasia.com