‘Mall jewelry theft carefully planned’
BACOLOD CITY: Unidentified suspects carted away P9 million worth of pieces of jewelry and cash allegedly from a mall in Barangay Mambulac, Silay City, Negros Occidental on Thursday, February 16.
Initial police investigation showed that the suspects entered the Gaisano Grand Mall by making a hole in the wall of the grocery area facing a vacant lot.
The suspects then cut the roll up door connecting the grocery store to the tenants’ kiosk area and went to the Yung Luck Kiosk owned by Junie Diam.
The robbers removed the vault from the Yung Luck Kiosk, and brought it near a rest room where they forcibly opened it and took the pieces of jewelry and cash, the police said.
Recovered from the place of the incident were red and black construction gloves, a bonnet, a blue long-sleeved shirt, and two used condoms, the police said.
The condom is lubricated and may have been used as an instrument in the perpetration of the crime, the police added.
Lt. Mark Anthony Darroca, Silay City Police Station chief, said they were informed by the kiosk manager that 641 items that included necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings and pendants were stolen.
The manager estimated the total cost of the stolen items at P9 million but the police are asking for the specific prices of each item stolen, Darroca said.
The manager also declared that P100,000 was stolen from the vault of the kiosk, he added.
Darroca said that it is possible that the thieves took three days to make the hole that they used as their entry point.
The hole was big enough for only one person to enter at a time, he added.
CCTV footage showed that three persons entered the mall at past 1 a.m. Thursday, and the vehicle that they possibly used, the cop chief said.
Two security guards said they were on the second floor of the mall and did not hear the thieves because they had fallen asleep, he added.
We are checking the background of the security guards, they have not ruled out an inside job yet, he said.
The thieves must have been observing movements in the area because the police patrol is usually in the area from 11 a.m. to midnight, Darroca said.