Ozamis gang linked to Bacolod jewelry heist
BACOLOD CITY – Police are checking if a robbery gang from Ozamis City carried out the heist of two jewelry shops inside the Gaisano City Grand Mall last Wednesday.
Police Col. Henry Biñas, city police chief, said investigators are validating reports about the gang’s involvement in the R4.5-million robbery at F&C Pawnshop and Jewelry and Haoling Jewelry Store.
Biñas said two of the nine suspects in the heist have been identified.
The security guards and others who were present during the incident will also be investigated, he said.
In March 2013, another F&C Pawnshop and Jewelry Store on Gonzaga St. lost here R1 million in jewelry to the so-called Acetylene Gang and Ozamiz Group.
Biñas said it was possible the group has contacts in the city.
“We are still checking their links with the group which also robbed a jewelry shop in Laguna last month,” he said.
Biñas said the robbers struck at the mall at a time when most policemen were deployed to the Ceres bus terminals in the city.
Tension rose at the terminals because of the feud among siblings of the Yanson family, which operates the Ceres Liner Buses in Negros Occidental.
Biñas assured that the police is still in control of the situation and that the robbery at Gaisano was an isolated case.
Brig. Gen. Rene Pamuspusan, Western Visayas police chief, expressed concern since similar robberies happened in Manila and Laguna in recent months.
“We have to check if these series of incidents were all connected. Even our intelligence operatives are looking at this point,” Pamuspusan said.
Pamuspusan met with City Councilor Al Victor Espino, chairman of the Committee on Police Matters, and the business community at the GT Hotel here last Thursday following the jewelry heist.
Espino said he will propose the amendment of three city ordinances relating to closed circuit television (CCTV) camera, after Biñas urged the business establishments install highend security cameras to help the police in fighting crime. (Glazyl Masculino)