A PAWNSHOP in Barangay Basak, Mandaue City yesterday lost more than P1 million worth of cash, jewelry and gadgets to burglars.

Manuel Conde, 67, owner of the MSC Pawnshop and a resident of Barangay Pagsabungan, Mandaue City, discovered the burglary when he and a helper opened the pawnshop around 8:15 a.m., said PO3 Arvin Palonpon of the Basak Police Station.

The vault that contained jewelry items worth P1 million and cash amounting to P100,000 had been forcibly opened. A laptop and a mobile phone were also missing and the things were in disarray.

Insp. Genilo Veraque, chief of the Basak Police Station, said Conde claimed that most of the stolen jewelry and cash belonged to him.

Palonpon said the culprits may have used acetylene to open the vault. Acetylene is a colorless flammable gas that can cut through metal.

The burglars entered the pawnshop by removing a portion of the tin roof above the comfort room and may have used acetylene to cut the bars blocking entry to the area where the vault was located, said Palonpon.

He said the culprits switched off the establishment’s closed-circuit television camera before opening the vault.

“Murag ila na gyud ni giplanuhan (It seems that the culprits had planned the burglary for some time),” Palonpon told Sun.Star Cebu.

He said the burglary may have happened at dawn. The establishment, located along a national highway, was closed last Sunday.

“We still have no lead right now, but an ‘acetylene gang’ may be behind the burglary,” Palonpon said, adding that residents living near the pawnshop said they did not notice any unusual sounds coming from the pawnshop.

Palonpon said he has not heard of any establishments victimized by an ‘acetylene gang’ in their area of responsibility since he was assigned there a year ago.