Pawnshop loses jewelry to 5 men

CEBU, Philippines - It has happened again and in very similar circumstances.

This time, two managers of a pawnshop lost jewelry of still undetermined value to five men, who posed as anti-narcotics agents in a robbery yesterday morning in Lapu-Lapu City.

The victims were on board a taxi from the Mactan Cebu International Airport and were headed to the main office of M. Lhuillier Pawnshop in Cebu City when the heist took place.

They were at the corner of the Airport Road and M. Quezon Ave. in Barangay Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City waiting for the light to turn green when the robbers struck.

The two passengers of the taxi were Roberto Achura, 42, married and a resident of Toledo City, Cebu and John Arnel Desierto, 46, married and a resident of Barangay Sta. Lucia, Astrias, Cebu.

Achura is the regional manager of M. Lhuillier Pawnshop in Davao City while Desierto is the area manager of the same firm. They were on board a Yellow Taxi driven by Eduardo Pabonita a resident of Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City.

The two just arrived from Davao to bring to their main office several pieces of jewelry, which they placed inside two backpacks that were put inside the baggage compartment of the cab.

The two victims said that while their taxi was waiting for the light to turn green, the five men, who were on board a white Mitsubishi sedan got out of the car and approached them.

The men wore black jackets marked PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) and bonnets.

The victims said one of the robbers was armed with a M-16 rifle while the others carried short firearms.

The robbers allegedly introduced themselves as agents of PDEA and they were looking for drugs loaded in the taxi cab.

The men then took the two backpacks containing the jewelry and other personal items of the pawnshop managers.

The victims said that the robbers also took the company laptop, a Black Berry cellular phone and one Rado wristwatch owned by Achura. They also took a Black Berry cellular phone and one back pack containing personal belongings of Desierto.

The robbers fled after the incident on board the white car bearing plate number GEW-862.

The victims immediately reported the incident to the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office.

Sr. Supt. Anthony Obenza, director of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office, said he was dismayed over the failure of the officials of M. Lhuillier to inform his about the two men who were arriving bringing jewelry.

Obenza had asked the management of the pawnshop to inform them after a robbery incident that took place last April also involving managers of M. Lhuillier, who were transporting jewelry to their main office coming from the airport.

Obenza said that if they had been informed, he would have a deployed a patrol on the route from the airport.

“Bisan ug mao ni ang among nasabotan, wala gyud sila mu cooperate namo, nakita pa gani nato nga dili kaayo sila mo cooperate,” Obenza said.

He said that they were also surprised to see that the victims arrived at the police station almost at the same time as the company lawyers.

“Nahibulong nalang ta nga dali man kaayo nga naka apas ang ilang mga abogado,” said Obenza.

The two managers proceeded to the company headquarters after giving their statement to the police while the taxi driver was held for further questioning.

Officials of PDEA-7 went to the office of Obenza yesterday afternoon to inform the police chief that they had no operation in Lapu-Lapu City yesterday.

PDEA-7 Intelligence Officer 3 Mark Maramba said they are now coordinating with Obenza on this matter.

Last April employees of M. Lhuillier, who also came from Davao City were robbed by six armed men, who also introduced themselves as PDEA agents.

The robbers took P5 million worth of jewelry.

A similar robbery also took place three years ago in the same area as the April incident at the foot of the Marcelo Fernan Bridge, with Davao-based employees of Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop as victims.

The robbers took an estimated P1 million worth of jewelry in that heist.

Obenza, on the other hand, said he assigned investigators to dig deeper of the reported heist involving again the M.L. Lhuillier Pawnshop.

PIB to assist

The Provincial Intelligence Branch is now helping the Lapu-Lapu Police investigate the heist.

Sr. Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office, said that he already told Supt. Rodolfo Albotra, chief of the PIB, to immediately help with the investigation.

Aside from the augmentation, Comendador also directed all police chiefs to monitor their area of responsibility of suspicious persons and provide police visibility as preemptive measures.

 Comendador suspected that robbers could be sub-groups of the previous robbery groups who have entered the province.

He once claimed that robbery groups would not always focus to only one target.

So far, Comendador has not received any further information from the LCPO.

Meanwhile, Sr. Supt. Melvin Ramon Beunafe, director of the Cebu City Police Office, said that it is possible that the robbers could be part of the Cabando Robbery Group.

The group of Cabando has been tagged responsible of a botched heist last September 5 at Fuente Osmeña where three of its members were killed while their alleged leader Dionisio ‘Jun-jun’ Cabando managed to give the police dragnet a slip.

He said that the Cabando group had plans to stage robberies in Cebu City, but might have changed their plans and do heists in Lapu-Lapu City following heightened efforts against criminality in Cebu City.—with Ria Mae Y. Booc and Ryan Christopher Sorote/NLQ (FREEMAN)