3 robbers, car thief nabbed

The increased police visibility ordered by PNP chief Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay yielded positive results over the weekend with the arrest of three robbers and a car thief in Quezon City.

Aglipay has ordered the Central Police District (CPD) to deploy mobile cars and additional policemen near the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) stations, bus and jeepney terminals and FX stations along EDSA to secure commuters from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The new tack paid off when a robber, Armando Occida, was arrested by men of Superintendent Cesar Hawthorne Binag, CPD Station 10 chief, after a brief chase which ended along Mother Ignacia Street.

In his report to Metro police chief Director Avelino Razon Jr., Binag said PO1 Randy Kitan and PO1 Mariano Illustre were on board a mobile car when a taxi driver reported a robbery-holdup at the corner of EDSA and Quezon Avenue at about 5 a.m. yesterday.

Acting on the information provided by bystanders, the mobile crew members chased the two fleeing suspects and cornered Occida.

Binag and SPO4 Ferdinand Lopez and PO1 Neil Payos, assisted by SPO1 Edgardo Cruz of the Station’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), conducted follow-up operations that led to the arrest of another suspect, Rogelio Santo, at a restaurant along Tomas Morato Avenue.

In another police operations, a team headed by SPO4 Lopez arrested Benito Nuñez, an alleged leader of a notorious Akyat-Bahay gang, after robbing a house in Barangay Piñahan last Aug. 28.

Binag said Nuñez yielded a computer central processing unit, VHS player, electric grinder and assorted house items.

Another suspect, Conrad de la Cruz, was arrested while in the act of stealing a tricycle along Matalino Street in Barangay Central.