|
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Pawnshop loses P300T in holdup
Two armed men ran away with over P300,000 in cash and valuables in a daring daylight pawnshop robbery yesterday in a crowded area in Barangay Pasil, Cebu City.
One of the pawnshop employees tagged notorious robber Rey Torres as one of those who pulled the heist.
While the police is unable to crack the spate of robberies, vigilante-style shootings in the city continue.
The latest victim was a 16-year-old boy who is in serious condition after two men shot him in the head last night in Banawa, Barangay Guadalupe.
The attack came two days after a 21-year-old suspected thief was gunned down in Barangay Tisa also by two unidentified men.
In yesterday’s robbery, policemen expressed disappointment at the apparent reluctance of the employees of Agencia Mejor to cooperate with them.
The employees initially didn’t let elements of the San Nicolas Police Station enter the establishment and reportedly told them to just wait for their employer to arrive.
Insp. George Ylanan, Vice Control Section chief, pointed out to them the urgency of giving the descriptions of the robbers so that the other policemen who had put up a blockade in different possible exit points would recognize the perpetrators and give chase.
“First, they told us that the getaway vehicle was a motorcycle and later we found out that it was a green Wrangler-type jeep,” Supt. Anthony Obenza, who led San Nicolas police in the investigation, told reporters.
Councilor Procopio Fernandez, committee chairman on police, fire and penology, went to the area after he was told of the police’s predicament.
He talked to Amy Teves, the employer’s representative, about the importance of the employees’ cooperation to help solve the case.
Only then did the employees talk.
The establishment’s security guard, 30-year-old Juanito Gemota of Dacay Security Agency, said two men arrived around 1 p.m., and immediately declared a holdup.
One of them disarmed him, while the other warned him not to take any unnecessary action or they would be forced to kill him.
Gemota said the robbers were armed with .45 pistols.
He said the one who disarmed him forced his way inside, while the other closed the metal accordion door and served as lookout.
Inside, the one who disarmed him struck Marlon Magno, the pawnshop assistant appraiser, with the butt of his gun when Magno tried to escape through the back door.
Magno suffered a cut in the head.
The same robber then took all the jewelry and cellular phones inside the safety vault and the estimated P20,000 cash inside the drawer.
Pawnshop appraiser Reden Sabandon, 35, initial estimated the stolen jewelry and cellular phones to be worth P300,000.
The whole thing was over in five minutes, according to Gemota.
Gemota said the one who disarmed him wore a maroon T-shirt and a pair of jeans. He had a mole in the left face, had straight hair and was of medium built. He and the lookout stood about 5’6”, Gemota added.
Gemota, however, said he failed to get a vivid description of the second robber because he was made to duck down while the two men carried out the robbery.
Last May 2003, Agencia Mejor’s branch on M. J. Cuenco Ave. also fell victim to burglars, who fled with about P1 million worth of cash and jewelry.
The burglars, whom police later found out to be members of the notorious Acytelene Gang, bore a hole in the concrete wall of the office and opened the vault where the cash and jewelry were kept.
Last night at 11 p.m., Noel Sapatos, 16, was shot dead in the corner of Lomboy and Duterte streets in Banawa, Barangay Guadalupe.
Sapatos was shot by two men believed to be members of a vigilante group. They wearing helmets and fled on board a motorcycle.
The victim was hanging out with his friends at a barbecue stall when he was shot in the head, police said, adding they are checking if the victim has a criminal record.
Sapatos’ attack follows the death of a 21-year-old suspected thief who was shot Saturday night in Barangay Tisa.
Hugo Pilapil was preparing dinner outside the unfinished shanty of his aunt when two unidentified men shot him.
Since Dec. 22, more than 40 people, most of them with criminal records, have been killed vigilante-style. (JST/with JFT of Superbalita.)
(April 19, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
