‘Dugo-Dugo’ strikes anew

Police warned the public to be on the alert against the renewed activities of the notorious Dugo-Dugo Gang, which managed to take away close to a million pesos in valuables from a household in Quezon City last week.

Records at the Central Police District-Central Intelligence Unit (CPD-CIU) showed that the group stole some P838,000 worth of jewelry and other valuables from a businessman identified as Mario Ong, of Scout de Guia Street, Barangay Laging Handa. Ong was away when the incident happened.

Based on the report, housemaids Chelyn Zomil, 19, and Maritess de Leon, 18, received a call about 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 from an unidentified caller, who claimed that their employer had just met an accident.

The suspects reportedly convinced the housemaids to give them "anything of value" as their employer needed money for treatment.

Investigators said the housemaids opened a steel vault inside the master’s bedroom of the house and took the assorted jewelry worth P500,000 and four expensive wrist watches amounting to P338,000.

The CPD-CIU said Zomil was instructed by the caller to bring the valuables to the Bambang station of the Light Railway Transit. From there, a man approached Zomil and took the bag containing the jewelry and expensive watches.

The policeman said the crime was only discovered when Ong arrived home from work. Ong has brought his housemaids to the police for further questioning. – Katherine Adraneda