‘Talented, diligent’ pawnshop burglars impress QC cops

MANILA, Philippines - The men who broke into a pawnshop in Quezon City on Feb. 13 impressed the city’s top police official, who said yesterday that the burglars went into a drainpipe, going through 800 meters of garbage and mud, to get to the pawnshop’s vault.

“You have to give it to them. Their talent and diligence are impressive,” Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Senior Superintendent Richard Albano told The STAR.

He was referring to the group of arrested suspect Jim Bautista, who admitted his group made three trips before finally reaching the vault of the Tambunting pawnshop along Calle Industria in Barangay Bagumbayan. The pawnshop lost P800,000 worth of cash and valuables.

Bautista, 21, was identified through a rogues’ gallery after a witness saw him and other men coming in and out of the end of the drainpipe, situated under a bridge near a canal, said QCPD deputy director for administration Senior Superintendent Joel Pagdilao.

Bautista was arrested Wednesday in his hometown of Quirino, Ilocos Sur, where he sought refuge following the burglary.

Former miners?

Inspector Alan dela Cruz, who arrested Bautista, said it was apparent that the suspects knew what they were doing, pointing to the possibility that some of the burglars might have had backgrounds as miners.

“They actually built braces underground,” Dela Cruz told The STAR.

Dela Cruz said policemen found the braces when they checked the spot where the suspects bore a hole in the floor.

“They apparently knew the soil where the vault stood, was loose and so they assembled those braces so the ground would not collapse on them,” Dela Cruz said.

He also commented on the diligence of the suspects, enduring the muddy underground pipe they had to crawl through just to get to the site of the vault. When policemen arrived at the spot where the ransacked vault stood, there were mud stains all over the room.

“It was as if the entire place was flooded. Just imagine how large the pile of mud they brought with them,” Dela Cruz said.

Talking to reporters yesterday, Bautista said there were 10 men involved in the burglary, but he maintained he was not among those who actually went underground to get to the vault.

Bautista also claimed it took them more than a month to plan the burglary, but said he was not aware how the target was arrived at.

Bautista is the subject of an arrest warrant in connection with another pawnshop burglary in Las Piñas City.