Pawnshop owner gets death threats

CEBU, Philippines - The owner of the pawnshop in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City, where robbers attempted a heist by tunneling through last Sunday, has also received death threats.

Inspector Rolando Pinili, chief of the Cebu City Police Office Theft and Robbery section, said that aside from Aurora Gotingco who owned the house rented by the perpetrators who dug the tunnel, Mark Yu, the owner of Gemmary Pawnshop and Jewelry also received threats from an unknown caller.

Pinili said that Yu reported to him about receiving a disturbing call from an unknown man who talked about several things regarding the botched thievery.

“Naa’y nanawag niya ug gihulga siya,” he said. 

The unidentified male caller introduced himself as one of the perpetrators who planned to victimize the said pawnshop, Pinili said.

However, because of unclear reasons, the caller disclosed that he failed to join the thievery claiming that he was double-crossed by his former accomplices, he said.

The caller also confirmed that Madrid Madrid Batnag and Kenneth Dayudoy Coplanga were behind the foiled thievery. 

Pinili said the caller described Batnag as the one who bought all of their tools and equipment while Coplanga served as their financier.

He, however, said that all the information from the mysterious caller is still subject for verification, adding that the call might be an attempt to disrupt their investigation.

To recall, Gotingco, who earlier expressed eagerness to cooperate, avoided police contact after she received disturbing text messages.

City Intelligence Chief Romeo Santander said Gotingco played a vital role in positively identifying Baby Turing, whom they invited for questioning last Tuesday.

Gotingco initially identified Turing through a picture the police showed her on Monday. 

Because Gotingco denied their invitation to identify Turing personally at the CCPO headquarters through a police lineup, Turing was allowed to go home.

The attempted thievery was foiled after the pawnshop’s security alarm, which is connected to the local police station, went off twice.

The perpetrators burrowed a 10-meter tunnel from the house owned by Gotingco, came out at a sports wear store and then dug a hole in the wall to get to the pawnshop. — /BRP (FREEMAN)