Burglars tunnel into Alabang supermarket

MANILA, Philippines - A supermarket at the Alabang Town Center in Muntinlupa City lost its Sunday earnings to burglars who dug a tunnel into the shop before dawn yesterday.

Chief Inspector Giovanni Martinez said the burglary was discovered about 7:30 a.m. yesterday, while employees of Makati Supermart were preparing for the mall opening.

The robbers entered by boring a hole in the supermarket’s lobby. They ransacked the offices in the building’s first and second floors. They used an acetylene torch to open the vault, Martinez told The STAR, adding they have yet to determine how much money was lost.

He said four handguns used by the mall security guards were also reported missing. He said the burglars may know someone on the inside because they knew that the money is left in the vault on Sundays, for deposit the next day.

According to Martinez, policemen went to ATC twice on Sunday night after the alarm of a bank inside the supermarket went off several times.

“The guard said the ongoing construction triggered the alarm, but now he denies saying it,” he said.

Martinez said police are still investigating the tunnel’s origin. He said it was “too deep, that only professional miners could last under it.”

The burglary occurred more than a month after three people died in a failed robbery at the ATC. Martinez said the mall should beef up its security measures, particularly by installing more surveillance cameras.