Store surge

The Divisoria market in Manila remains notorious for the pickpockets who strike at all times of the day and use the heavy crowd for cover and escape.

Vendors are not spared by thieves as happened to Elvira Cabrea on 29 December. A man came into Cabrea’s store on Ylaya Street while she was organizing her wares and snatched her daughter’s belt bag containing cash and a mobile phone.

The thief ran away and Cabrea screamed for help. Other vendors gave chase and caught the thief. They beat him up before turning him over to responding cops from the Juan Luna Police Community Precinct, GMA News reports. The belt bag was recovered.

The suspect denied stealing the belt bag but the victim was still going to slap robbery charges against him, according to officers of Manila Police District Station 11.

Meanwhile, a mob of teenagers stormed a streetwear store in Perth, Australia on 26 December to “rob” it, news.com.au reports.

Video footage of the raid uploaded on the StreetX Instagram page showed the raiders stampeding through the store’s entrance as dumbfounded onlookers outside watched, according to the report.

One young man ahead of the pack was seen in the video being trampled while others scuffled for shirts inside the store.

Store owner Daniel Bradshaw said no one was hurt in the rampage that he himself had instigated. Police had also allowed his call on social media to rob his store.

“We wanted to give our customers something fun. We made the entire store free. There were 400 items to ‘steal,’” local reports quoted Bradshaw as saying.

The invitation to steal was part of a Boxing Day promo for StreetX. Bradshaw said there were control measures in place to protect customers from the scuffle that ensued.

“We let kids and parents in first. Once they moved out, we let the young guys in,” he said, according to New York Post.