Thieves get busy in QC, take P17M

Thieves made off with more than P17 million worth of valuables, including jewelry and electronic gadgets, in separate heists they pulled off over the weekend in Quezon City.

One of the robberies was carried out by just one man while other one involved six men who tied up a restaurant owner and members of her household before ransacking their house and fleeing with a loot of more than P15 million.

Based on reports from the Quezon City Police District Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU), a man barged into the house of Marissa Gatmaitan on Ipo Street, La Loma at 12:30 p.m. on Friday.

At that time, only the housemaid, Myla Fadera, was at home, according to Senior Police Officer 1 Gregorio Maramag.

The robber got into the house by scaling the fence and forced open the door, catching Fadera by surprise.

To get her out of the way, he locked her inside a toilet after he threatened to kill her should she escape and then proceeded to ransack the house.

Fadera, however, managed to get out of the toilet and run outside where she asked a neighbor for help.

But by the time help arrived, the robber had disappeared along with Gatmaitan’s safety box which contained P1.5 million worth of jewelry.

Shortly before 10 a.m. the following day, six men robbed the house of restaurant owner Marilou Knight on 3rd Street,  New Manila.

Case investigator Police Officer 2 Julius Balbuena said the armed men entered the house after they subdued the family driver, Donhill Aquino.

Once inside, four of them rounded up the other members of the household, including Knight, her two sons and two female employees.

Balbuena told the Inquirer that the robbers tied up the victims using wire and gagged them using packaging tape.

They were later herded inside one of the rooms while the robbers ransacked the house for valuables.

The police said the thieves took mostly jewelry, including a pair of diamond studded earrings worth over P10 million and more than P2 million worth of Rolex watches.

On top of this, they made off with cash, cell phones and other valuables worth nearly P4 million.

The police said the robbers escaped in a red van.