Ozamis robbery gang eyed in P5M jewelry heist

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Police officials believe that the robbery group responsible for the jewelry heist at the Marcelo B. Fernan Bridge in Lapu-Lapu City last Wednesday came from Ozamis City.

Chief Inspector Romeo Santander, chief of Cebu City Police Office intelligence branch, said that prior to the incident they received information that a group of robbers from Ozamis City are coming.

“Our intel (intelligence) told us (that) the group is coming but wa ta kahibalo asa sila mosulod,” Santander said.

Santander said that the report was sketchy but they have disseminated it to the Regional Intelligence Division and to all the police units a month ago.

Since then, they have intensified their monitoring as well as beefed up their preventive patrol measures.

According to Santander, they have alerted all pawnshop operators, banks and other similar establishments in Cebu City.

“We inform the owners to be extra careful about suspicious persons around and we give them police hotline numbers in case of any incident,” he said.

In spite the advantage information received by the police, six motorcycle-riding robbers successfully pulled off a P5 million heist.

The robbers blocked a Toyota Innova transporting jewelries from Mindanao.

The pieces of jewelry were supposed to be brought to the main office of M. Lhuillier Pawnshop at the North Reclamation Area in Cebu City from its branches in Mindanao.

The police later recovered one of the getaway motorcycles, which was abandoned in front of a mall in Cebu City.  (FREEMAN)