Lapu police eye Minda ties in jewelry robbery

THE robbers who staged last Wednesday’s holdup of M. Lhuillier managers could be part of a syndicate operating in Mindanao linked to two previous holdups said police.

Senior Supt. Anthony Obenza, Lapu-Lapu City police chief, said some suspects have been identified but he held back details to avoid the investigation.

The stolen jewelry valued at P2 million was insured.

“As far as I know it was insured, but claiming insurance is another story. The process is difficult,” said M. Lhuillier legal counsel Julius Ceasar Entise.

Entise said they asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to step in to clear suspicions that the robbery was an inside job.

The two Davao managers Roberto Achura and John Arnel Desierto Sr. said they wouldn’t risk their jobs by faking a holdup.

The two were on board a yellow airport taxi when they were intercepted by armed men posing as Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) personnel.

“This is our bread and butter. We couldn’t afford to exchange it for millions of pesos in stolen goods,” Achura said.

He said he and Desierto worked in the company for the past two decades and met their wives there.

“I want to retire with my head high, so I could always come back and visit the company where I worked,” he said.

Achura said they were humiliated by Obenza’s statement that the robbery was an inside job.

Tthe Cebu City police said they are coordinating with the Lapu-Lapu City police in profiling robbers from Mindanao.

Senior Supt. Melvin Ramon Buenafe, Cebu City police chief, said most of the robbery suspects recorded in their office have ties to the notorious Kuratong Baleleng robbery gang in Mindanao. Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos and Correspondents Chito Aragon and Norman V. Mendoza