Pawnshop in busy Lucena commercial district robbed

LUCENA CITY–Three suspected robbers carted off a still undetermined amount of jewelry in a daring daytime heist at the city’s commercial district Saturday morning, the second such incident reported in a span of one month, police said.

Senior Supt. Valeriano de Leon, Quezon police chief, said at around 9 a.m. the robbers who were armed with handguns barged inside the Racquel pawnshop branch along Zamora St. and immediately grabbed the .38-caliber revolver of the surprised lone security guard.

He said the gunmen were unable to enter the pawnshop office because one of the employees immediately locked the door but they succeeded in breaking the lock of the jewelry display panel at the lobby.

The robbers took off the valuables and escaped with three other cohorts who acted as lookouts aboard two motorcycles, said de Leon.

Marzon Bien, one of three pawnshop clients at the time of the robbery, said the suspects moved fast as they were able to pull off the heist in five minutes.

De Leon said the robbers were members of “small time robbery gangs” but the local police were already in hot pursuit against them.

On July 26, three armored van security guards of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) branch in front of the Saint Ferdinand Cathedral here were shot dead in a daring afternoon robbery. The bank lost an estimated P3 million to the robbers, said police.