Police identify one of four suspects in pawnshop heist
From basag-kotse groups, local police authorities are now faced to solve another headache: the resurgence of Acetylene Gang.
Yesterday morning, members of the Acetylene Gang made known of their presence by attacking a pawnshop along E. Lopez St., Brgy. Fatima, Jaro, Iloilo City.
Incidentally, the pawnshop is owned by no less than Rosalie Sarabia-Treñas, the wife of Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas.
The break-in at R. Sarabia Pawnshop was discovered around 9:00 in the morning when the establishment was about to open.
A certain Benjie Janay, the caretaker of the building which housed the pawnshop, discovered the incident.
Police reports claimed that some four suspects used acetylene in cutting through the pawnshop’s vault.
Jaro Police Station chief Chief Insp. Orly Gabinete claimed that the establishment lost assorted jewelries with pawned value of P400,000 and cash estimated at P23,000.
Gabinete theorized that the incident happened between 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning yesterday.
The suspects, he added, made a hole to fit themselves in going directly at the pawnshop.
Well-planned
Just like in previous cases of pawnshop theft, the suspects used acetylene torch to open the vault.
And yet again, the suspects also targeted a pawnshop located in a building where they could rent on the upper floor.
According to Janay, the suspects occupied two of the rented rooms on the second floor, just directly above the pawnshop.
One of the suspects allegedly inquired about the room’s availability last January 25. The following day, he already occupied the room.
On January 27, a companion joined the suspect in his occupied room.
On January 30, two other suspects boarded the adjacent room.
The room occupants all paid in advance.
Identified
As this developed, Gabinete claimed that they already have identified one of the four suspects.
Through the rogue’s gallery, Janay identified one of the four “boarders.”
Gabinete named the suspect as Willy de la Cruz, who also identified himself as Willy Baste from Mindoro.
To note, de la Cruz was also implicated in the robbery of Iloilo Pawnshop at Gen. Luna St., Iloilo City last March 9, 2008.
He was pictured in a CCTV footage of a pension house in Gen. Luna St., which he occupied prior to attacking the adjacent Iloilo Pawnshop.
“Kung basehan ta ang modus nila, they started their operations last October,” Gabinete said.
Aside from de la Cruz, the Jaro PNP chief said that the other suspect is from Capiz province.
Unlike the basag-kotse gang’s nationwide operation, dela Cruz’s group could just be doing their nefarious activities in Panay and Negros.
Handler
The probability that the group had a handler is also very high.
PNP Regional Director Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas said that is very possible since the group could not easily make their way in Iloilo without contacts.
“They have a handler based on their capability. They knew the target. They knew when to attack and how to do it,” the region’s top cop said.
Once the plan has been set up, Cuevas said that the group let their members who are not from the area to do the handiwork.
He already tasked different police units to step their intelligence monitoring to identify the suspects and their cohorts.