Police have arrested five of as many as eight suspected robbers who allegedly dug through a popular shopping mall in Ozamiz City on New Year’s Eve, with their stolen loot totaling at least ₱41 million.
The Ozamiz City Police named one of the suspects on Wednesday as they filed charges against five workers from a small amusement park located beside Gaisano Mall. It said a co-worker and a regular bettor pointed to the identity of the burglars.
Major Euridecy Revillas, deputy police chief of Ozamiz City, told Rappler they arrested April John Permanhil, a carnival worker whom they suspect helped the thieves in tunneling to the Gaisano shopping mall on Dec. 31.
Revillas said they are also looking into three persons of interest who were caught on CCTV cameras breaking into the vaults of GKC Jewelry Shop and Oro Italia Fine Jewelry Shop within the mall.
The thieves also forcibly opened the MetroBank automated teller machine (ATM) inside the mall, Revillas added.
“A witness gave a statement that their co-workers are behind the crime. We retrieved the clothes they were wearing during the incident and the tools they used to carry out the crime,” investigator PSMS Mark Alvin Pacatang told CNN Philippines in a phone interview.
The police said the robbers dug a tunnel from the fair’s compound to a nearby drainage, leading up to Gaisano Mall’s food court area. Pacatang said the robbers’ entry and exit points weren’t easily visible.
“We weren’t able to find their exit point on the side of the mall. Our personnel went through the tunnel. The exit point was in the back part of the fair. People won’t see it because they passed through the drainage,” Pacatang said.
Revillas said the thieves also broke into the vault of GKC Jewelry Shop carting P1,721,903 in jewelry and money and also took P40 million in jewelry and cash from Oro Italia Fine Jewelry Shop.
The investigator said the burglars also forcibly opened an ATM where they were able to steal around ₱50,000 to P80,000.
Despite the cases filed against the five robbers, authorities are continuing the manhunt operation to look for possibly more perpetrators as Pacatang said they are receiving many names allegedly involved in the crime. He added they are also hoping to recover the rest of the stolen loot.