Over P.5M lost in mall break-in

CEBU, Philippines - Over half million pesos worth of laptops and cellular phones lost to unidentified burglars in one of the stalls at a downtown mall.

Corazon Medilo, 24, representative of Bea Beauty Product located in the second floor of 138 Mall along Colon Street, reported the alleged break in of their stall to the Theft and Robbery Section of the Cebu City Police Office.

The alleged burglary was discovered at 8:40 a.m. of Thursday when the security guards open the mall. Among the items that were reported missing include two Taiwanese laptops worth P4,550 each, 114 pieces of assorted cellular phones amounting to P543,320 and P5,000 cash.

The items were reportedly placed in a steel cabinet inside the stall owned by Bea Ang Tan. The unidentified burglars destroyed the padlock of the cabinet.

TRS chief Bonifacio Garciano said they found a hammer inside the stall believed to have been used by the burglars.

The police however admitted that they have suspicions about the reported burglary because the mall was guarded. He however refused to elaborate their suspicions.

But, Garciano theorized that someone may have locked himself in the mall and carried out the crime at night when the mall was already closed.   A security guard of the mall told the police that he noticed one of the waiters of a fastfood chain in the mall hurriedly left passing the exit door. The guard, suspicious but has not yet learned of the burglary yet, allegedly asked the waiter if he came inside the mall to which the waiter denied.

Responding policemen from the Waterfront Police Station interrogated the waiters of the fastfood chain and found someone among them as suspicious.

Garciano said they will again invite the said waiter to shed light on the incident. (FREEMAN)