Cab driver nabbed for ‘cellnapping’

Benjamin Garcia, 26, of Sikatuna Village, Quezon City must have been understandably enraged when he realized he was being coerced into paying ransom.

He had just gotten off a taxicab with his girlfriend from a party along Timog Avenue in Quezon City at around 11:30 p.m. Monday when he realized his Nokia 3210 cellphone was missing.

Calling his own number, he spoke with the driver of the taxi he had just taken and realized he inadvertently dropped the cellphone inside the taxi.

The initially cooperative driver, identified as Alberto Nuñez, 27, of Caloocan City, agreed to return the phone that night but Garcia began to worry after several hours passed without any word from Nuñez.

When he again called Nuñez to demand the return of his cellphone, Nuñez demanded P4,000 for the return of the cellphone that costs around P6,000. His Nokia 3210 had been "cellnapped."

Holding back his rage and gathering his wits, Garcia agreed to pay the ransom in front of a disco house on Pangarap street, Caloocan City but only after telling his father.

Garcia’s father happened to be former Central Police District (CPD) director, Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Garcia.

The Garcias alerted the authorities and had two policemen, SPO4 Rodel Marcelo and PO2 Rogelio Esteves, stake out the area of the disco house to wait patiently for Nuñez.

Nuñez made his appearance with his supposed accomplice Ruel Espiñosa, 19, also of Caloocan City, and waited for Garcia to arrive and give them their P4,000 bonanza.

When Garcia arrived, the two suspects called him by excitedly waving the cellphone but instead of Garcia, the two policemen, approached them and announced the arrest.

The suspects then tried to evade arrest by throwing the cellphone at the arresting officers and ran away but they gave up when Marcelo fired warning shots.

Nuñez and Espiñosa are now detained at the CPD headquarters.