Suspicious robberies

They tried to do it low key but the pawnshop managers of M. Lhuillier were again the hapless victims of an armed robbery by men posing as Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency agents.

According to the managers, the management advised them to take a yellow cab in lieu of a high-end sports utility vehicle to transport them to the M. Lhuillier pawnshop in Cebu City.

This little strategy failed. The robbers found them and sped off with jewelry worth at least P2 million, their cell phones and a laptop.

Wednesday’s robbery was the third to occur, counting last April’s heist involving P5 million and the March 2008 robbery of Cebuana Lhuillier officials — all of which took place after out-of-town managers flew in to Cebu and were just leaving the airport.

See the pattern? Hard to miss.

While it’s still early to assume a conspiracy afoot, the triple incidents beg the question of whether the holdups were the result of an inside job.

That or how incredibly lucky can perpetrators be to have jewelry couriers made so easy a target.

Based on the taxi driver’s account, the holduppers ordered him to open the trunk immediately.

Many wondered in hindsight how a courier could leave a cache of jewelry in the baggage compartment of a commercial taxi instead of holding on to it for dear life until the delivery is completed.

The pawnshop management plans to ask the National Bureau of Investigation to step in, afraid that the Lapu-Lapu city police has lost its “objectivity” in the case.

We can’t fault the police for their suspicions, but Senior Supt. Anthony Obenza was tactless about discussing them without hard evidence in his hands.

The holdup partly exposes the lack of strong intelligence information of local police to sense an emboldened operation like this.

The perpetrators were so confident, they didn’t mind reusing their modus operandi in broad daylight.

A rotation scheme for couriers was implemented after the April robbery, said the M. Lhuillier lawyer.

That didn’t fool the robbers who were better prepared with black PDEA shirts and enough guns to disguise their presence in a public road as a legitimate police operation.

A day after the robbery, the jewelry, thugs and getaway vehicle are nowhere to be found. Same for the past two cases.

Since victims in the three cases came from Mindanao branches of M. Lhuillier and Cebuana Lhuilliers, it’s not farfetched to suggest that a Mindanao-based crime network is at work.

Lapu-Lapu police will have to work double time with counterparts down south to solve this and past cases. It would also be beneficial for the pawnshop company to fully cooperate with the police or the NBI to redeem confidence in law enforcement. Unless parties work together, we’re just waiting for Sequel no. 4.