Baclaran pawnshop loses P15 M to tunnel-digging robbers

MANILA, Philippines - A pawnshop in Baclaran, Parañaque City lost P15 million worth of cash and valuables to robbers who dug a tunnel that started from a nearby manhole and ended just under the floor of the shop, police said yesterday.

The heist was carried out two weeks after a pawnshop in Las Piñas was also robbed using a similar method.

Employees of Mega Trend Pawnshop along Rivera street discovered the loss at around 8 a.m. Monday when they were about to open the store, Chief Inspector Enrique Sy, who heads the city police investigation unit, said.

They found two holes in the floor near the built-in and movable vaults. The manhole, according to Sy, was “so big that a jeepney can fit inside it.”

Investigators believe the robbers used chisels, crowbars and acetylene torches to destroy the vaults. They left behind two portable liquefied petroleum gas tanks, an acetylene torch and a flashlight.