Cops in P4-M cargo hijack working undercover?

The two Caloocan cops implicated in the case of the P4-M stolen steel plates recovered in a warehouse in the city last Friday were not members of a hijacking syndicate but were, in fact, on a mission to bag the big fish, superiors claimed yesterday.

Newly installed city police chief Senior Superintendent Geronimo Reside, in an interview yesterday, said, however, that the officers could be in trouble if these claims are not sufficiently backed by documents.

"If they cannot produce the necessary papers that they are on a mission to infiltrate the syndicate, malabo ito," Reside said.

The official said the two officers have been restricted to camp and are now under the custody of the office of Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, Northern Police District (NPD) director, pending the results of an ongoing investigation now being done by the Quezon City Police District who has jurisdiction over the case.

"Para di maimpluwensiyahan ang resulta ng imbestigasyon," the police chief said.

Reside, who assumed his post only a week ago, also told The STAR he was clueless about the alleged anti-hijacking project until his men were dragged and named into the case. He also intimated that he does not know how deep or how far the investigation on this particular case could go.

"They said that there was a project against hijackers in the city since the time of my predecessor (Senior Superintendent Leo Garra), but I was not told about this until after the raid. Why only now?" he asked.

The official, former police chief of San Carlos City in Pangasinan prior to his new assignment, said that if there was this project, he should have been properly informed.

"I will have to approve it and inform higher headquarters about the operations but I was kept in the dark," said Reside adding that some officials could be held liable, but did not elaborate.