A WESTERN Union remittance payout center lost P200,000 to two armed men who barged into their shop in a crowded mall in downtown Cebu City yesterday afternoon.
Police said the heist took place at 5 p.m. on the ground floor of the Elizabeth Mall along Leon Kilat Street.
The men who were armed with knives struck just as one of the two employees manning the shop stepped out to go to the toilet. At knifepoint, they ordered branch head Libie Jade Vequilla Alkuno to stuff their bag with money from the shop’s cash box before fleeing.
The Western Union branch had no closed-circuit TV camera and iron bars as a precaution against criminal elements.
SP02 Edgar Galado, investigator of the city police Theft & Robbery Section, said the employees failed to alert the mall guards who were less than 20 meters away from the shop. He added that the incident was reported to them two hours after it occurred.
“Naa pa untay chance magukod ang mga suspects kun nangayo pa sila og tabang dayon sa gwardiya (The suspects could have been apprehended if only they immediately alerted the security guard),” Galado said.
When asked why the suspects were able to bring in bladed weapons inside the mall, Galado said the suspects may have bought the knife inside the mall./Chito O. Aragon correspondent