UNIDENTIFIED robbers who are allegedly members of the Acetylene Gang carted away almost P300,000 cash from a pawnshop on Osmeña Blvd. yesterday morning.
Benjamin Fernandez, on-duty security guard, said the personnel of Cebu Gold Pacific Pawnshop and Jewelry found out when they opened at 9:30 a.m. that the wooden door at the back of the establishment had been broken.
“Pag-abot namo karong buntag nabuslot na ang bungbong ug ang atop unya naa pa sa sawog ang ilang acetylene nga nahurot na siguro kay wala man gyod sila kaabli sa metal vault (The ceiling had a hole and an acetylene tank was still on the floor, which I believe ran out of content after they failed to open the metal vault),” he said.
But the robbers opened the cash box, which contained P271,488.95 and dollar bills. They also cut off the power supply of the four closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras of the establishment.
PO3 Carl Del Mar of the Theft and Robbery Section of the Cebu City Police Office said they are looking into a gang that did the robbery.
He said that the robbers may have pulled the crime during Christmas Day because the establishment only had a half day of work on the 24th and they had no work on the 25th.
Adjacent building
Authorities believed that the robbers entered the pawnshop by breaking into an adjacent building and boring a hole in the ceiling.
Police noticed some conflicting statements by the security guard. The guard also denied seeing men entering the building during his watch.
“Kon diri pa na moagi naa unta nay forced entry sa gate unya wala man. Hasta diha wala man. Wala pud ko kakita nga niagi na sila diri (If they passed here, there would been evidence of forced entry. I also didn’t see anybody passing here),” he said.
Investigators are looking into why Doblado was on duty 24 hours straight without a replacement.