Man with bogus gold bars nabbed in Manila

He was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

An alleged member of a fake gold bar swindling syndicate fell to the hands of Manila police early yesterday morning after he was flagged down in Malate, Manila for a minor traffic violation.

Police said Johnroy Tenorio, 30, was cruising along Pablo Ocampo Street (formerly Vito Cruz) aboard a white Mitsubishi Adventure with plate number WSS-753 at about 5:30 a.m. when he allegedly ignored a red traffic light at the corner of Roxas Boulevard.

The minor traffic violation attracted the attention of Senior Police Officer 2 Jerry Garcia and Police Officer 1 Rhoderick Rubio who was aboard mobile car 380.

Immediately, the officers chased the suspect, a resident of 35 Fort Bonifacio Street, Bago Bantay, Quezon City, and caught up with him. When the officers asked for the vehicle’s registration papers and his driver’s license, Tenorio reportedly failed to produce any, prompting the officers to conduct a search on the van.

During the search, police said they found a steel box containing six pieces of fake gold bars and 18 pieces of $1 bills.

When questioned, Tenorio, police said, verbally admitted that he was released last July 31 from the Makati City Jail for illegal possession of firearms.

He also admitted that during the time he was arrested he was on his way to Malate, Manila to meet a certain Mr. Cheng, allegedly a Korean national, residing at the Legaspi Towers in Roxas Boulevard.

Cheng, according to Tenorio, contacted him to buy six fake gold bars for P12 million.

Charges for traffic violation and disposition of articles falsely marked as gold were filed against Tenorio by the General Assignments Section of the Western Police District. He is now detained at the WPD Integrated Jail.

Police said Tenorio is allegedly part of a syndicate that was behind a series of swindling incidents in Manila involving the sale of fake gold bars. Most of their victims, police said, were Korean nationals.