‘Martilyo’ gangmen got P30M

The suspects in Thursday’s brazen shopping mall robbery in Pasay City got away with a P30-million loot  and escaped by getting into a taxi cab, the city’s police chief said Friday.

The four robbers who attacked Tambunting pawnshop on the third floor of Metropoint mall may have also bought their “tools”—or the steel pipes they used to break glass cabinets containing jewelry—in the same shopping center before proceeding to their target, according to Senior Supt. Melchor Reyes.

“We believe they bought the pipes inside the mall,” Reyes told the Inquirer in an interview. “But I’m wondering how they were able to bring their guns in.”

To pull off the 3 p.m. heist, one of the robbers held the pawnshop’s unarmed security guard at gunpoint while the other three smashed the display cabinets with steel pipes, he said.

Robbers using such methods have been known in local crime lingo as ‘‘martilyo” (hammer) gangmen.

One of them apparently suffered a cut as evidenced by blood stains on the broken glass, Reyes said.

Quoting a report from the pawnshop, Reyes said the stolen jewelry amounted to about P30 million. He said he had asked Tambunting to submit a list of the stolen items for cross-reference.

The suspects fired shots in the air to scare the people inside the pawnshop, and another as they escaped in the hallway, the police official said.

The shots caused panic in the crowded mall, preventing mall guards from giving chase. Metropoint is often packed as it is connected to both MRT-Edsa Station and LRT-Taft Station.

MRT operations were briefly suspended because of the commotion.

Reyes added that based on eyewitness accounts the suspects boarded a “taxi” to complete their escape.

The Pasay police yesterday also released sketches of the suspects based on descriptions given by the pawnshop clerk, the security guard, and some jeepney terminal barkers outside the mall.