Iranian envoy robbed of cash, valuables inside Forbes Park home

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MANILA, Philippines—Robbers struck at the posh Forbes Park on Saturday, breaking into the residence of an Iranian diplomat and taking away his wallet containing still undetermined amount of cash, cell phone and watches.

Police said Iranian ambassador to the Philippines Mohammadi Ali discovered the robbery on Saturday before noon when he noticed that his valuables, including his wallet containing a still undetermined amount of cash, a mobile phone, and watches were missing.

Senior Police Officer 1 Jemcie Acosta, investigator on case, said Ali woke up finding the basement door to his residence in McKinley Road in Forbes Park slightly opened.

“His helpers made sure the basement door was locked around 2 a.m. on Saturday. They don’t know how the robbers managed to open it without force,” Acosta said over the phone.

The robbery could have happened between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Saturday but was reported to the Makati police at around 3 p.m. later.

The ambassador remembered placing the stolen valuables on the dining table, Acosta said.

The envoy has been renting a bungalow-style house on Mckinley Road in Forbes Park which, according to the police, has its own private security force.

“It is one of the gated villages in Makati, where we are not allowed to do our regular patrol,” Senior Superintendent Jaime Santos, Makati police chief said.

Santos said they were not yet discounting the possibility of an “inside job.”

Asked if it would be difficult for robbers to gain entry to subdivisions like Forbes, Acosta said outsiders’ slipping into the village was not really that impossible.

The Makati police were still checking if closed circuit television cameras were installed near the ambassador’s residence.