BURGLARS TUNNEL INTO OZAMIZ CITY MALL, STEAL P40-M JEWELRY, CASH

THIEVES tunneled into a famous shopping mall in Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental and carted away some P40 million worth of jewelry and cash on New Year’s Day.

According to the Ozamiz City police, the robbery occurred inside the Gaisano Mall at Purok 3 in Bgy. Baybay Sta. Cruz.

The incident was discovered around 11 a.m. on January 1 by an HR employee of the mall.

An investigation showed the suspects gained entry by digging a hole from a nearby drainage leading to the mall’s food court, which also served as their possible exit.

Once inside, the suspects broke the glass wall of the GKC Jewelry Shop and Oro Italia Fine Jewelry Shop and took the cash and assorted jewelries from the vaults.

The thieves also forcibly opened the Metrobank Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and took the cash from inside.

Police in a follow-up operation arrested one of the alleged suspects.

Nabbed was April John Permanhil, a carnival worker whom authorities suspect helped the thieves in tunneling to the Gaisano Shopping mall on New Year’s Eve.

Police said they are also looking into three persons of interest who were caught on CCTV cameras breaking into the vaults of the two jewelry shops inside the mall.

“Intelligence-driven checkpoint operations were already established in all the egress areas of the city, and relentless manhunt operations are still being conducted to arrest  the other suspects involved in the robbery,” the Ozamiz City police said in a statement.