Police ID tunnel 'thieves'

CEBU, Philippines - The police have identified the alleged perpetrators behind Sunday’s botched heist where thieves tunneled to get to a pawnshop in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.

Inspector Rolando Pinili, Cebu City Police Office Theft and Robbery Section chief, said they have identified three of the perpetrators, one of them the “Johnny Lo” who rented the room owned by Aurora Gotingco from where the hole was dug last Jan. 6.

Lo’s real name, according to the police, is Madrid Madrid Batnag of Benguet, Mountain Province.

“Mao bitaw nga yungit mosulti si Batnag kay gikan man siya sa Mountain Province,” he said after Lo was described as speaking an unfamiliar dialect.  

Gotingco’s son identified another two of the alleged perpetrators, Kenneth Dayudoy Coplanga, of La Trinidad, Benguet, and a certain “Beybe” Turing who asked him to help them move in.

All three alleged perpetrators were apprehended for a similar case in 2010 in Cebu City, Pinili added.

Based on a receipt recovered from the crime scene, the alleged perpetrators bought their excavation equipment and digging tools at a hardware store in Barangay Basak Pardo, Cebu City.

The police went to the store where one of the employees positively identified Batnag as the one who bought several items from them last January 11, Pinili said.

Pinili said they are currently searching for the three who are believed to be still in Cebu.

He added they have sufficient evidence to file a robbery case against them that they will file today.  

From the rented room, the alleged perpetrators dug a tunnel estimated ten meters long and a meter underground to a nearby sportswear store. From the sportswear store they dug a hole in the wall to the Gemmary Pawnshop and Jewelry and were inside when the alarm went off.

Chief Insp. Bonifacio Garciano, head of the CCPO Investigation and Detective Management Branch, said that they will also recommend to City Hall to make security alarms mandatory for all pawnshops.

He said without the alarm, the robbers would have succeeded in their crime.

In line with this proposal, he reminds all station chiefs to check pawnshops under their area of responsibility for security alarms. 

Garciano said the first alarm went off at Gemmary Pawnshop and Jewelry 10 a.m. on Sunday which prompted them to send men to the check the area.

From the outside, the pawnshop reportedly looked normal and the police left.

Fortunately, the alarm again went off around noon and this time police asked the owner to open the pawnshop and they found the hole in the wall.

Mark Yu, owner of the pawnshop, said they will also be putting up security cameras inside their pawnshop to further boost their security.

He also said they are willing to reward those who can provide the police with vital information leading to the apprehension of the culprits. — /BRP - (THE FREEMAN)