CEBU CITY, Philippines — At least three ready-to-wear (RTW) stores located inside the 138 Mall in downtown Cebu City lost P50, 000 worth of earnings to robbers, Sunday night, November 17, 2019.
Police Major Joemar Pomarejos, chief of the Waterfront Police Station, said that the robbery happened around 10 p.m. or about an hour after the mall closed.
The robbery was discovered when tenants opened their respective stalls at 10 a.m. today, Nov. 18.
Pomarejos said that they already identified one of the suspects, who also works at the mall, based on witnesses account and the evidences which they collected at the crime scene. But they are yet to identify his cohorts and determine their exact number.
Based on their initial investigation, Pomarejos said that the suspects entered the mall through its backdoor.
The suspects, he said, may have used a steel blade saw to open the door lock.
He said that the suspects also used their saw to open the individual locks of the three RTW stores.
Pomarejos said they are now looking at Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) recordings from establishments close to the 138 Mall located along Colon Street in Cebu City since the mall’s CCTV was shut down when it closed Sunday night.
They hope to identify the other suspects from CCTV recordings, he said.
Pomarejos said that they may also be able to recover the stolen cash as soon as they apprehended their main suspect and his cohorts. / dcb