LINGAYEN – A gang of dismissed policemen and soldiers is now sowing fear in Luzon, according to Police Provincial Director Sr. Supt. Alan Purisima.

Purisima said the gang was tagged responsible for the robbery holdup at a big merchandise warehouse in Sta. Barbara town last week and was also believed behind the robbery at Pepsi Cola Bottling Company in Rosario, La Union two weeks ago.

He said these fully armed group held up a bank in Cainta, Rizal last Thursday where they used the Starex van earlier seized from the compound of the City Supermarket Inc. in barangay Maticmatic, Sta. Barbara last Thursday.

Aside from taking a Starex van from the CSI compound, the suspects opened vaults owned by tenants with the use of acetylene torch and carted away some P200,000 in cash.

In the bank heist in Cainta, Rizal, the suspects escaped with P11 million cash.

Purisima said a security guard at the CSI warehouse confirmed that the suspects who barged inside their establishment were the same ones that robbed the bank in Cainta two days later based on the descriptions of the perpetrators provided by the Cainta police.

In the heist at Pepsi Cola Bottling Company in Rosario, La Union two weeks ago, the gang took around P4.2 million in cash.

Purisima said most if not all the suspects are in military uniform precisely because they were former policemen and soldiers who were dismissed from the service because of crimes that they had committed.

Warning that these people are dangerous and fully-armed, Purisima cautioned the public to report immediately any suspicious-looking persons roaming in their vicinities.