Angeles pawnshop robbed of P6.6-M cash, jewelry

ANGELES CITY — Twelve armed men wearing black police uniforms abducted the manager and cashier of a local pawnshop in the Balibago commercial district here in a well-planned heist that netted the suspects some P6.6-million worth of jewelry and some P120,000 in cash.

The cashier's boyfriend was also taken by the robbers.

Police said Arlene Villanueva, manager of Cebuana Lhuiller pawnshop in Barangay Balibago, was already on her way home when a Toyota Revo van intercepted the jeepney she was riding in along Henson street.

Two men in black uniforms alighted from the van, approached the jeepney and told her she was under arrest and had to go with them in the van.

While this was going on, another group of suspects wearing similar suits and riding a Mitsubishi Adventure van reportedly blocked the jeepney boarded by the pawnshop’s cashier Analyn Sicangco and her boyfriend, Michael Pineda, along 9th street in Lakandula, Mabalacat town.

At gunpoint, the two were ordered to board the van, but Pineda was later dropped off in Barangay Duquit.

The two vans drove around for a while within Angeles as the suspects, using two-way radios, communicated with each other to coordinate their moves. The two groups finally converged at the pawnshop and compelled Pineda and Villanueva to open the vaults.

City police chief Senior Superintendent Jimmy Restua said witnesses claimed that the Mitsubishi Adventure had license plates WDE 205, while the Toyota Revo had license plates starting with SFJ. — Ding Cervantes