2 NPA hit men nabbed

Two motorcycle-riding men, believed to be members of a New People’s Army (NPA) urban hit squad, were arrested by a mobile patrol team last Sunday afternoon in Caloocan City.

Senior Superintendent Benjardi Mantele, city police chief, identified the suspects as Nestor Perez, 38 and Mariano Gaddi, 35, both farmers from Brangay Behilia, Tiaong, Quezon. Seized from the two were a caliber .45 pistol with two magazines and 14 live bullets, and a hand grenade.

Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo, Caloocan City police intelligence chief, said the suspects are being investigated for their alleged connections with the NPA.

He said police were able to confirm that Gaddi and Perez are members of a legal organization identified as a front of the NPA.

"These are farmers from Tiaong, Quezon armed with a caliber .45 pistol and a hand grenade," Borromeo said. "What are they doing here in Metro Manila?"

Borromeo said the suspects are currently undergoing tactical interrogation but they declined to answer questions. "They refused to talk," he said.

Both later denied the charges.

SPO2 Antonio Paras, officer-on-case, said the arrest was made by elements of the city police Mobile Patrol Unit at about 1 p.m. The mobile team, under Oplan Sita, accosted two suspicious-looking men riding a motorcycle without license plates on Rizal Avenue Extension.

Perez failed to present necessary papers, prompting the mobile cops to frisk them and search the compartment of the motorcycle.

Meanwhile, police arrested Friday a phony NPA man who tried to extort some P10,000 in "revolutionary taxes" from an owner of a bakery in Caloocan.

Crisanto Cervantes, 26, a native of Davao City, pretended to be a member of the Sparrow Unit, the liquidation squad of the NPA, but his attempt failed after his victim sought police assistance.

In another development, the Caloocan City police arrested Sunday Ed Delgado, the city’s No. 2 most wanted criminal who is allegedly involved in various crimes in Caloocan and nearby localities.

Delgado was apprehended in Grand Royal Subdivision, Malolos, Bulacan at about 10:30 a.m. by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Judge Bayani Rivera of Las Piñas City.

The suspect is also wanted by the Las Piñas authorities for two counts of murder.

All the suspects involved in the separate cases were presented to the media yesterday by Metro police chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco, who lauded the men of the Northern Police District for a job well done. – With Sheila Crisostomo