Six men held up the Waigani Central Paradise Cinema and made off with more than K2000 last Saturday.
An eyewitness said the six men arrived at the cinema in a grey Toyota Camry. Around 7.50pm, five of the men started entering the building at approximately one to two-minute intervals.
They went into cinema two, which was showing Kung Fu Panda 2. About 30 minutes into the movie, they all came out of the room where one of them pretended to order a drink.
Since it was almost closing time, two cashiers were behind the concession stand, preparing to take the cash from the register to put in the safe. The man pulled out a pistol as one of the cashiers was in the process of serving him.
Two of the robbers jumped over the concession stand and entered the office where the safe was.
“Another cashier was in the manager’s office. Fortunately, he didn’t know the combination to the safe,” said the eyewitness.
“One of the thieves had held up the guard at the gate, preventing him from radioing for help, while the driver was waiting in the getaway car.”
It was reported that one of the staff members raised the alarm. This led to the safe escape of movie-goers through the emergency exit. No one was hurt during the event.
The company has refused to comment on the incident.
Police have dismissed rumours on Facebook that the cinema was robbed during the Saturday night Easter weekend.
No reports were filed at any police station in Port Moresby by any respective cinema authority therefore, no investigations have been made upon the Facebook reports, police said.