Burglars break into store, flee with P300T

Unidentified burglars broke into a store at corner D. Jakosalem St. and Osmeña Boulevard in barangay Sto. Niño, Cebu City and carted away an estimated P300,000 cash.

Investigators from the Theft and Robbery Section of the Cebu City Police Office said the burglary was discovered by Raymond Go, representative of Unitop Shopping Center, when he opened the store yesterday morning.

SPO2 Ulysses Racaza of the TRS said Go found out that the ceiling at the second level of the store was already broken while the vault inside the office was forcibly opened.

Genaro Ugsang, a roving tanod of barangay Sto. Niño told police that at around 4 a.m., when he passed by Legaspi St., he noticed tied blankets like a “rope” hanging from Colon Development Corporation building, which is just adjacent to Unitop.

Ugsang said he immediately informed his companions in the barangay hall and called for police assistance. He added that they decided to stay and observe the area while they wait for police to respond.

But before the authorities arrived, Ugsang reportedly saw a taxi near Colon Development Corporation speed away. He believed the passengers of the taxi were the ones who broke into Unitop.

Since it was still dark and the establishments in the area were still closed, tanods said they have no idea which establishment was burglarized until Unitop opened and discovered they lost part of their proceeds.

The police are yet to determine how the robbers managed to tie the blankets in the metal bar near the iron gate of Colon Development Corporation, which believed top be their entry point before climbing up the roof through the back of Unitop.

Investigators said the burglars cut the portion of the roof using metal scissors and then destroyed the ceiling to gain entry to the store.

Police also discovered that two of the blankets used were printed with Hope Pension House, making them suspect the burglars might have stayed there the night they broke into Unitop.

But Racaza said that when they checked on the said pension house, they were told that it is the policy of the management not to record the identities of those who would only book for “short time” stay.

Racaza said they were able to confirm that the burglars rented room 301 of Hope Pension House, which is just a block away from Unitop, when employees later discovered that two of blankets provided for the room were missing.

He said that based on the accounts of some employees of the pension house, the perpetrators only booked for three hours starting from 10:36 pm and checkout at 1:36 am. — Edwin Ian Melecio/WAB