POLICE officers have intensified patrols in the Philippine after masked gunmen carried out a brutal home invasion and robbery targeting a family of seven on Wednesday morning.

Police officers patrolled the streets in the Whispering Winds community, and Vijay Ragoonanan, the head of the household and a victim of the home invasion, told the Express yesterday that the patrols provided much-needed relief and reassurance after the trauma of the previous night.

Ragoonanan said police officers patrolled the street twice and returned a third time after his eldest son contacted them.