BYSTANDERS caught a man stealing items from a boarding house after the uncle of one of his victims called for assistance.
The incident took place at around 10:30 a.m. on Monday, March 18, 2024, in Urgello Street, Sitio Upper Kawayan, Barangay Sambag 1, Cebu City.
Police identified the 24-year-old suspect as Renuj Buaya, of Sitio Sagrada, Barangay Tinago, Cebu City.
Based on the investigation by the Abellana police headed by Major Mark Don Alfred Leanza, Buaya broke into the boarding house and stole a mountain bike valued at P8,000 from the room of a 19-year-old student.
He also entered the room of a 23-year-old student by destroying its door lock and stole a laptop worth P37,000.
He quickly left the area on a bicycle, but the uncle of 23-year-old victim called out for assistance.
This prompted bystanders to pursue the culprit until they caught up with him.
Leanza said that the victims are both University of Cebu students.
The suspect has been turned over to Abellana Police Station 2.
The authorities are still trying to figure out out if the suspect is the same person who broke into residences in Urgello and the nearby areas in the past.
At around 1:40 p.m. on the same day, construction workers caught another thief who broke into the barracks of a construction site along Juana Osmeña Street, Barangay Capitol Site, Cebu City, and took away two electric drills worth P5,700 and two electric grinders amounting to P2,100.
Francis Jake Bunal Padayao, 26, of V. Rama Street, Barangay Calamba, Cebu City, was identified as the culprit.
Padayao was caught stealing the construction materials and placing them into a sack.
According to 50-year-old Cagayan de Oro City native Elmer Lagahed Matobato, an in-house contractor, that the suspect gained entry to the barracks by destroying its door.
Padayao has already been turned over to the Abellana Police Station for the filing of appropriate charges against him. (AYB, TPT)