By JEN BAYLON
An organized group is suspected to be behind the heist at a shopping mall in Negros Occidental’s San Carlos City, where an estimated P1.4 million worth of items were carted away by the suspects.
In a news conference on Saturday, August 24, San Carlos police chief Colonel Nazer Canja said their investigation revealed that two unidentified suspects entered the mall for the heist at around 11:00 p.m. on August 19.
Two suspects, who were wearing bonnets, plundered four stores, such as a pharmacy, a jewelry shop, and a hardware store, inside the mall.
The suspects were believed to be members of the termite gang.
Canja said the 372-meter tunnel adjacent to a commercial building along C.L. Ledesma Avenue was the entry and exit point of the burglars to the mall.
He added that, aside from the two suspects, three accomplices were inside their getaway car, a sports utility vehicle.
They were waiting at a coffee shop prior to the robbery, police said.
Based on footage from closed-circuit television, the group rented a room at a cottage at Barangay Macapso in Negros Oriental’s Vallehermoso town, before the crime.
The staff at the inn said the suspects were speaking neither Cebuano nor Hiligaynon during their conversation on the phone.
Canja said the staff also took a photo of the suspects’ getaway vehicle.
The police chief said they have identified the owners of the sports utility vehicle, in collaboration with the Land Transportation Office, which could aid in the continuing investigation.
The San Carlos police also collaborated with other police stations to determine the whereabouts of the suspects.
The investigation also suggests that the suspects were not residents of San Carlos, but possibly they were from Bacolod City.
Meanwhile, Canja advised the mall management to increase security measures at the establishment following the heist.
On March 30 of this year, the shopping mall was ransacked, where a total of P450,600 worth of cash, dry goods, food items, and electronic devices were carted away by the suspects.
Police said the suspects broke into the mall by destroying the air conditioning vent, as the establishment had no alarm system./JB, WDJ