8 men rob jewelry, appliance stores

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines – Three of the eight still unidentified robbers ransacked in broad daylight the Oro China Pawnshop and Jewelry and a nearby appliance center inside City Square along B. Inting Street in the city in lightning speed of about three minutes.

Police spot report, which did not name the owners of the pawnshop and the appliance center, said the heist took place at 9:10 a.m., or ten minutes after the stores’ usual opening for business.

The report however, as of presstime yesterday afternoon, did not mention how much was taken from the jewelry store although it stated that the robbers carted away pieces of jewelry that may amount to hundreds of thousands of pesos.

The robbers also took away P20,000 cash and the necklace of the appliance owner, said the report.

The police said three of the robbers barged into the jewelry store minutes after it opened at 9 a.m. and immediately started smashing with a hammer the showcase windows where the jewelries were displayed.

One of the two security guards was disarmed with his gun while the other guard who just came out from the comfort room gave a warning shot that prompted the robbers to run away together with five others who served as lookouts. They used three Honda XRM motorcycles parked nearby.

Minutes later, the city police received calls about the robbery but when they arrived at the scene, the robbers were already gone.

The report said the robbers, without any cover on their faces, operated like “professionals” because the heist was fast and accurate.

One of the three who actually did the dirty job at the jewelry shop tried to include the nearby appliance store and successfully extracted by force the P20,000 cash and necklace of the owner, said the report.

Police said the owner of the jewelry shop, who was in Cebu City at the time, was slated to come to Tagbilaran.

The progress of the hot pursuit operations hit a snag due to the refusal of the jewelry store personnel to provide the police of the password of the CCTV camera, police said. If the CCTV, mounted inside the shop, was immediately accessed, the police could have identified the robbers and ran after them.

Meanwhile, all possible exits, including seaports, are being sealed and monitored by the police. - THE FREEMAN