SM Pampanga robbery: Burglars dig a hole through drainage, cart away jewelry

PAMPANGA, Philippines – Even big, well-secured shopping malls are not safe from shrewd and determined robbers these days.

Still unidentified burglars broke into the department store of SM City Pampanga in Mexico town and San Fernando City here in the wee hours of March 15 and carted away still undetermined amount of jewelry.

The thieves were not detected because they dug their way under the mall.

A memorandum by Senior Superintendent Christopher Abrahano, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Region 3 (Central Luzon), said the robbers entered the mall through a creek inside an adjacent subdivision and dug a hole from the underground drainage system.

Investigators showed that the creek was about 150 meters away from the mall.

Police theorized that the robbery incident happened between 1 am and sunrise.

While inside the department store, the robbers carted off expensive jewelry and also threw away several pieces at the crime scene.

A team from the Scene of the Crime Operatives found 11 pieces of jewelry worth around P373,000 scattered in the area.

The recovered items included: 

• A pendant worth P14,000
• Bracelet worth P45,000
• Bracelet worth P49,800
• Bracelet worth P47,900
• A ring worth P50,500
• Ring worth P29,600
• Ring worth P10,100
• Ring worth P52,000
• Bracelet worth P37,200
• Ring worth P36,500

The CIDG has coordinated the investigation into the robbery break-in with the Mexico town police. – Rappler.com