SANTIAGO CITY, Isabela -- A pawnshop in Barangay Centro East here was robbed of at least P30-million worth of jewelry, gold bars, and cash by suspected members of the Termite Gang on Monday, September 23.
Police Lt. Col. Saturnino Soriano, spokesperson of the Santiago City Police Office, confirmed the incident.
Soriano said the robbery was discovered by employees when they reported for work.
We are investigating the entrance and the exit of the suspects, and reviewing the CCTVs surrounding the establishment to identify the robbers, he said.
Police found a hole in the establishment.
The suspects possibly used specific methods to measure the exact location of the pawnshop from a nearby drainage canal, which served as their entry point, police added.
Police theorized that the suspects spent two to three days tunneling through the pawnshop’s lobby floor to access the vault.
To avoid detection, they reportedly covered the CCTV cameras with black paint before removing the system's CPU.
Police said the absence of security guards in the pawnshop during the crime may have allowed the suspects to execute the heist without interruption.