Three foreigners fall prey to thieves in Cebu City

CEBU, Philippines - Three foreigners lost close to an accumulated P1 million worth of money and belongings during separate incidents allegedly involving the notorious “salisi” gang and snatchers in Cebu City.

Japanese national Miho Harada, 28, told the police that she was swindled by three persons who befriended her in a mall in Cebu City last Thursday.

Harada said two men and a woman approached her in the mall around 8 a.m. and convinced her to go with them to an apartment in Barangay Quiot, Pardo to play Black Jack, a card game.

She said the three were nice to her at first but she reportedly started noticing later that they were tricking her. She reportedly lost P533,000 cash and three gold bracelets worth a total of P240,000 to the three.

She subsequently reported the incident to the police but cops found no trace of the alleged suspects during a visit to the apartment.

Meanwhile, in Barangay Talamban, Korean National Rui Jin reported to the police that two unidentified men entered his office at a language school and took his LG laptop worth P64,000.

Rui said the theft was captured by a closed circuit television camera, which also showed one of the suspects talking to an employee of the school prior to the incident. The suspects reportedly asked for numbers of the school but when the employee left to get a call card, the suspects immediately left with the laptop.  

Meanwhile an Austrian national reported to the Fuente Police that motorcycle riding men snatched her bag at past 10:00 p.m. on Friday while she was walking along Archbishop Reyes Avenue.

Anna Katharina Reiter, 24, a call center agent, said her bag contained an Iphone 5 worth P40, 000 and her necklace worth P100,000. The suspects fled fast right after snatching her bag, Reiter said. (FREEMAN)