Thieves tunnel way into pawnshop, steal P700K

MANILA, Philippines—Thieves carted away early Wednesday nearly P700,000 worth of cash and jewelry from a Quezon City pawnshop, by using the same tunnel they dug eight months ago in a botched heist.

Supt. Pedro Sanchez, the station of commander of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), said that the burglary happened two days after security guards of the Capital Pawnshop along Abra Street, Barangay Ramon Magsaysay in Bago Bantay, ignored a neighbor’s information of hearing noise that resembled someone digging through concrete.

Sanchez said the burglary was discovered Wednesday when the pawnshop opened for the day at around 8:30 am. Employee Neren Campomanes found a hole on the tiled floor and discovered the pawnshop vault empty of cash and jewelry.

Capital Pawnshop area manager Roberto Roxas told police investigators that they had been robbed of more than P243,000 cash and some P443,000 worth of pawned jewelry.

Sanchez told the Inquirer that the burglary could have been thwarted had security guards immediately reported what a neighbor heard on Monday. “They were told Monday of some noise which sounded like metal striking stone and they did not report it to the police or to the barangay officials. We could have looked into the previous tunnel dug up from the drainage system near the pawnshop and prevented it,” he said.

He explained that sometime in March, tunneling thieves had tried to burglarize the pawnshop but it was foiled after employees noticed that several floor tiles were uneven and they subsequently discovered a hole, big enough for a man to go through, on the concrete beneath.

Policemen then recovered acetylene torches and tanks from the tunnel.

Following Wednesday’s burglary, Sanchez said his men recovered an acetylene tank, a hose, a torch, a pointed iron rod, a tire jack, several tools and a pair of black rubber gloves from the same tunnel.

He said that he was assured by the pawnshop owner that the hole beneath the establishment had been filled up but the robbers dug through it.

The station commander told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that they have been reviewing closed circuit TV footage to possibly identify the burglars.

RELATED STORIES:

QC pawnshop robbers tunneled wrong way

Thieves use sewer to break into Q.C. pawnshop