A recycled post went viral recently, showing a purported robbery-holdup incident inside the elevator of a shopping mall in Manila.
The black-and-white video which was reposted on June 6 shows a woman holding bags and a man entering the elevator together.
The door has barely closed when the man began beating up the helpless woman while taking her belongings.
Just like the first time it went viral sometime in 2019, the caption of the post stated that the incident took place inside an elevator at the Lucky Chinatown Mall located on Reina Regente Street, Barangay 293, Binondo, Manila.
As soon as the video made the rounds on social media days ago, Manila Police District Director BGen. Andre Dizon immediately directed a police team to check on the mall.
Maj. Bernardino Venturina, Juan Luna PCP Commander, along with other police personnel, conducted an ocular inspection at Lucky Chinatown Mall. They were accompanied by Norico Michigozi, general manager of the mall, Security Commander Jerry Cubilla and Redento Conteras, Regional Security Commander.
The mall has only four elevators located at the lobby and main mall.
Photos and videos were taken of the said elevators and none of which even had a resemblance to the elevator shown in the viral video.
The inspection team was shown photos gathered and posted by the mall itself in 2019 to compare how its elevators looked like, compared to that which appeared in the original video which, by the way, also went viral.
A beleaguered Michigozi told the MPD team that the said issue was already investigated by the same police station in 2019 and it was already clear at that time that there was no such incident that ever occurred at the said mall.
They went on with their investigation until they found out that the viral video post of that incident, which was also reposted, actually took place on February 14, 2019, near Gate B of the Taman Mutiara, MRT Station in Cheras, Kala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Reportedly, the unnamed suspect was arrested in his hometown by the Malaysian police four days later or on February 18, 2019.
I learned that there were efforts exerted by the police to get the statement of the mall officers to file a cyber libel complaint against the person or persons responsible for having posted the said video, with the aid of the MPD’s Anti-Cyber-Crime unit.
However, the mall officers declined, saying the issue was already settled and cleared years ago.
According to Dizon, the incident “is a challenge and opportunity for our anti-cyber crime unit to catch the criminals,” in an apparent reference to those who are behind the malicious post.
What could be the purpose for reposting that video which is not only old but did not even take place in the named mall? Could this be an attempt to sabotage Dizon? Hmmm….
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