Pawnshop in Naga robbed

Another pawnshop/remittance center in Cebu was robbed yesterday by two armed men in barangay Inayagan, Naga City.

The robbery of M. Lhuillier Pawnshop came a day after three men attacked the Palawan Express Pera Padala in barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.

At least P150,000 cash was taken in the Mabolo robbery.

In yesterday’s robbery, at least P3,000 was taken.

Like in the Mabolo incident, the Naga shop didn’t have a security guard and a security surveillance camera.

Police said the robbers arrived in the pawnshop on a passenger Multicab and fled on foot, according to Inayagan barangay captain Narciso Tablate.

The two robbers were seen in the footage of the closed-circuit television camera installed by the barangay along the road, some 10 meters from the establishment.

Tablate said the two robbers, who were wearing baseball caps, rode a passenger Multicab and disembarked near the establishment.

However, the faces of the robbers were not seen in the camera.

Tablate said the robbery took place at 2:08 p.m. based on the security camera footage.

Tablate, who talked with the two female pawnshop staffers of the establishment, said one of the robbers pretended to be a customer when his companion poked a gun at the teller and declared a hold-up.

Tablate said the metal grills separating the customers and the tellers prevented the robber from properly aiming the gun at the teller.

“Na-rattle lang gyud to’ng teller maong nakahatag siyag kwarta, pero kung wa pa siya ma-rattle pwede ra niyag di ihatag ang kwarta kay naalihan man og grills unya sirado man sab ang ilang booth (The teller panicked. She had the chance of not handing over the cash since the grills were blocking the robber and the booth was locked),” Tablate said.

In his report, P03 Remberto Empeynado, investigator of the Naga City Police Station, identified the two staffers as Liezyl Tapdasan, who is the cashier/teller, and Merlina Selma, 45, a branch manager who visited the pawnshop at the time.

Tablate said Selma was able to hide when one of the robbers poked a gun at Tapdasan.

Tablate said the execution of the robbery was too fast.

“Dali ra kono kaayo, nahuman lang og usa ka minuto dayon nanagan ang mga tulisan (The robber was done in just a minute)”, Tablate said.

The footage of the barangay’s security showed that the two robbers run toward the interior portion of the place.

Tablate said the pawnshop has been operating in the barangay for eight months.

He said the management may have been too confident that it did not employ a security guard because the barangay is known for being peaceful.