This one escapes vigilante justice: Top rob gang member falls

With notorious and suspected criminals in Cebu getting killed one by one, this one should consider himself lucky to be arrested alive.

Police yesterday arrested Leonardo Abapo, long suspected to be a member of a notorious robbery gang believed to be behind a series of recent robberies in Cebu City.

Police armed with an arrest warrant stormed a house that Abapo was renting in barangay Sangi, Lapulapu City and arrested the suspect.

Abapo, 35, a native of Zamboanga del Sur, did not resist arrest, claiming innocence.

Abapo is said to be a member of the robbery group once headed by the notorious Rey Torres and Danny Limotan, who have since fallen to the hands of the police.

Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Bureau chief Paul Labra said the arrest of Abapo was the culmination of about two weeks surveillance.

When Torres was arrested in June in Zamboanga del Sur and Limotan a month later, Labra said Abapo and two others - Roldan Villanueva and Renato Hermosilla, formed a new group headed by Villanueva and Doroteo Imperial.

This new group is believed behind six recent robberies in Cebu city - Aibee Minimart in Mabolo, East-West Bank, a fish trading couple, Cepedeco cooperative, and two Western Union branches.

The warrant issued against Abapo, however, was for the robbery of Ace Investment which lost P200,000.

Other robbery cases that reportedly involved Torres, Limotan and Abapo were those of the Lapulapu City District Hospital and of a money lender in Mandaue City whom they killed after taking his money.

As of yesterday, Inspector Ramon Villar said an agent of Filmin Credit House in Mandaue City which had also been robbed has tagged Abapo as one of the robbers.

Abapo said he believes Torres and Limotan were responsible for his arrest, claiming the two got back at him on the believed he was responsible for their earlier arrest.

Labra however downplayed the claim of Abapo, saying the arrests of Torres and Limotan were the result of police efforts.

Abapo was tagged as one of those who robbed a Western Union branch last Sunday, gaining entry by pretending to be a client. - Flor Perolina