Over the weekend, a man was caught shoplifting from the SM Department Store at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City. But it was actually his escape attempt that made matters worse.
The man, who was carrying a backpack, was accosted by the mall’s security officers. When the security personnel opened the backpack, they saw various items from the store stuffed inside it. However, before they could go through everything, the shoplifter grabbed the bag and tossed it aside while yelling, “May bomba ‘yan (There a bomb inside it)!”
“Pandemonium broke out as the terrified crowd in the mall hurried to supposedly get out of harm’s way,” reports Jeffrey C. Tiangco on Journal Online.
The report noted: “The security officers, though were momentarily taken aback, quickly regained composure and gave chase to the fleeing shoplifter. The suspect eventually gave up when he got cornered. At that point, the crowd rushed to attack the shoplifter.” The report said the shoplifter was nearly beaten to a pulp.
The shoplifter was later turned over to the police. It turned out that he had put worth PHP4,000 of items into his backpack.
