POLICE officials warned money transfer firms, banks, pawnshops and apartments on the presence of acetylene gang members in Cebu, following the foiled robbery in City of Naga last Tuesday.
Supt. Romeo Santander, City Intelligence Branch (CIB) Chief, advised establishments to install an alarm system as an additional security measure.
He also directed all station chiefs to monitor their areas of responsibility, specifically establishments that are possible targets of the group.
Santander also reminded owners of apartments or boarding houses not to immediately accept suspicious-looking lodgers or people looking for rooms.
“Cebu City is a soft target that is why before owners accept renters or lodgers, they should do a background check. They should particularly be wary of those who pay for three month’s rent or more,” Santander said.
Santander also advised the apartment owners to always require IDs from their tenants.
The CIB chief said that based on their profiling, most acetylene gang members are miners from Luzon.
Last Tuesday, the Naga City police responded to a call from a house caretaker in Barangay Central Poblacion.
The caretaker asked for police assistance when he sensed something suspicious with their tenants.
The police reportedly found a hole that leads to a drainage system.
They believe that the hole ends in a bank and a pawnshop located a few blocks away.
Digging materials, sacks of soil, clothing and acetylene allegedly owned by the tenants were found in the house.
The tenants reportedly left the house days ago.
The police speculated that the group abandoned their plan when they saw garbage that clogged the drainage, which could endanger their lives.