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They came to Cebu to hide.
But the five men allegedly involved in the brazen Oct. 18 robbery of Greenbelt Mall in Makati didn't know that they were being watched.
Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) from Cebu and Manila yesterday raided the apartment the suspects were occcupying in Compostela town, northern Cebu.
A shootout ensued after the suspects refused to surrender and fired at the agents.
When the smoke cleared, four men were dead.
Another surrendered after he tried wading in the waters to elude arrest but couldn?t swim.
One of those killed was identified Alvin Flores, the leader of a six-man armed group that held up the Rolex luxury watch store on the ground floor of Greenbelt mall in Makati City last Oct. 18.
The four others were Ritchie Hijapon, Mark Salamanca and a still unidentified man.
Rene Batiancila was detained at the NBI office and will be brought to Manila. Agents carried an arrest warrant for illegal possession of firearm issued by Judge Alma Crispina Lacorte of the Regional Trial Court in Caloocan City.
The suspects also had pending arrest warrants for the Greenbelt robbery.
Medardo de Lemos, NBI director for Central Visayas, said the death of the four men did not mean the robbery gang was neutralized yet since 11 men were involved in the Greenbelt robbery.
Authorities continue to look for other gang members in different parts of the country.
The Greenbelt robbery was foiled by two police escorts of Taguig Mayor Freddie Tiñga who saw the robbers hammering glass show cases at the Rolex shop to get watches.
One of the six robbers were killed in a shootout with Tiñga's bodyguard. The five others, including Flores, escaped in two sedans.
A dead armed robber lay face down in the Rolex store entrance. A grenade launcher and a .45 cal. pistol lay near him.The other robbers were armed with Armalite rifles, police said.
After the robbery, Flores group fled Manila.
The group was transferring from one place to another until they arrived in Cebu on Wednesday to hide, said De Lemos of the NBI.
?We don?t know if they planned to stage another robbery while staying in Cebu,? he said.
An NBI agent from Manila who was following the robbery gang members arrived in Cebu and coordinated with counterparts in NBI-Central Office based in Cebu City.
The agent got a tip from an asset that the robbery group was in Cebu and had rented an apartment in sitio Lutaw Marikina, barangay Estaca, Compostela town. The apartment is about 25 meters from the beach.
The duplex apartment was being rented at P1,500 a day, according to Rebecca Ceniza, sister of the wife of a Dutch national who owned the building. The apartment has two rooms, a kitchen and a living room.
About 4 p.m. yesterday, a joint team from NBI Cebu and Manila dropped by the Compostela police to intell them they were serving the arrest warrants against the men staying in the apartment.
SPO3 Renato Prieto of the Compostela police said he did not send men to the area because the NBI agents did not request assistance and to avoid any misencounter since some NBI agents were in civilian clothes.
The robbery suspects fought back.
De Lemos said they were about to serve the arrest warrants when his men were fired at. Shots were exchanged.
The suspects ran to the back of the apartment toward the shore, while shooting at the pursuing agents.
The gunfire was heard at the police station about 5:30 p.m.
Four suspects were killed.
NBI agents caught a fifth one who tried to escape by the beach but returned to shore because he didn?t know how to swim.
The bodies and arrested suspect were taken back to Cebu CIty in a convoy of vehicles past 10 last night.
Authorities recovered an Armalite rifle, K6-9 machine pistol, .45 caliber pistol and assorted ammunition. Inside the house, the TV was still on and food was on the table, apparently ready for the men?s dinner.
Metro Manila police had tagged Flores and his group as the ones behind the Greenbelt heist as well as a Dec. 5, 2008 Parañaque shootout which left at least 16 people dead. The group was also linked to at least 23 robberies in 2008 where they disguised themselves as policemen.
