A PREGNANT pregnant woman and her three companions were detained by the police for stealing almost P100,000 worth of goods from a grocery store in Barangay Suba, Bantayan town, Bantayan Island, last Saturday, October 21, 2023.
The stolen goods were also recovered by the police, including 15 reams of Mighty cigarettes worth P19,140, 20 reams of Marlboro cigarettes worth P31,200, 15 reams of Winston cigarettes worth P10,840, 15 reams of Hope cigarettes valued at P21,855, 12 cans of Spam luncheon meat totaling P3,012, 3 pieces of Virginia luncheon meat worth P248, 12 packs of Anlene 990 grams worth P6,948, 13 pieces of tomato paste worth P442, 2 pieces of Virginia Duo luncheon meat worth P398 and 11 cans of Purefoods corned beef worth P2,046.
Police Captain Noah Añana, the chief of Sta. Fe Police Station, told SunStar Cebu that they launched an operation right away after getting a theft alert from their counterpart in Bantayan Police Station, and were able to apprehend the culprits as they prepared to board a ship for mainland Cebu.
The store owner reviewed the establishment's CCTV footage after learning that the customers had not paid for the merchandise and saw the offenders riding a tricycle toward Sta. Fe.
The store owner then reported the incident to the Bantayan Police Station, which then alerted the Sta. Fe police.
Those arrested were a pregnant woman from Lapu-Lapu City, her three male companions – two coming from Barangay Duljo Fatima, Cebu City and one from Barangay Pasil, Cebu City.
Their fifth companion eluded arrest.
"Nag-ulhos-ulhos silag sakay sa trisikol timing kaayo pag-abot sa Sta. Fe, nadawat namo info! Positive man sila gyud amo napusasan," Añana said.
(They took turns riding tricycle and it was timely that they arrived in Sta. Fe when we received the info. They were positively identified, thus we handcuffed them).
The arrestees have already been turned over to Bantayan Police Station.
The Bantayan are still finding out whether the group belongs to a crime syndicate.