The department store of SM City Pampanga in Mexico town and San Fernando City was victimized by burglars, who dug their way under the mall and into the stores before early dawn of March 15.
The suspects reportedly took a still undetermined amount of jewelry.
According to Senior Superintendent Christopher Abrahano, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Region 3 (Central Luzon), the robbers forced their way into the mall through a creek inside an adjacent subdivision and dug a hole from the underground drainage system.
He said the creek was about 150 meters away from the mall.
Police estimated that the robbery incident happened between 1 a.m. and sunrise.
The police said the robbers carted off expensive jewelry and threw away several pieces at the crime scene.
A Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) team recovered 11 pieces of jewelry worth around P373,000 scattered in the area. They include a pendant worth P14,000; four bracelets worth P45,000, P49,800, P47,900 and P37,200 and five rings worth P50,500, P29,600, P10,100, P52,000 and P36,000, respectively.
The CIDG is coordinating the investigation into the robbery break-in with the Mexico town police.
