Malabon’s most wanted criminal falls

Malabon City police arrested a robbery and holdup gang leader, listed as the city’s most wanted criminal, during an operation at a squatters’ colony in Paradise Village last Thursday night.

Superintendent Moises Guevarra, city police chief, said Enrique Nepomuceno, 33, alias Ricky Tattoo and Ricky Balawis, a resident of Barangay Catmon, yielded an improvised shotgun and a hand grenade when collared by cops.

Guevarra tagged Nepomuceno, an ex-convict, as the leader of the Balawis group, a robbery and holdup gang operating in Malabon and adjacent cities in the northern metropolis.

PO1 Rommel Habig said that at around 10:30 p.m., watchmen of Barangay Tonsuya called for police assistance after spotting Nepomuceno in Paradise Village near Letre Road.

The barangay watchmen decided to seek help from police, knowing that he was armed and dangerous, Habig said.

"Nepomuceno’s Balawis gang is so notorious in the area. We have been after them for a string of robbery cases, particularly on Letre Road and in Catmon," Guevarra told The STAR.

A team, led by Senior Inspector Roland Mabbun, chief of the station Special Operations Group and Follow-up Division, swooped down on Paradise Village, resulting in the arrest of the suspect.

Mabbun said Nepomuceno could have been in the area "scouting" for a possible victim.

Police seized from the suspect a homemade shotgun with two bullets and a hand grenade.

Charges of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and illegal possession of explosives were filed yesterday against Nepomuceno with the Malabon City prosecutor’s office.