Robber preying on fish traders at Navotas port arrested

Northern Police District (NPD) Night Watch cops arrested one of the three hold-up men who robbed a fish trader before dawn yesterday in the coastal town of Navotas.

NPD director Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said that Raffy Guerrero, 21, a resident of Barangay North Bay Boulevard North, was arrested in a follow-up operation at his group’s lair at a squatters’ area in NBBN.

The suspect’s two unidentified companions are now the subject of a police manhunt.

Romina Heresano, 37, a resident of Barangay Daanghari, was on board a tricycle driven by his brother, Romualdo, enroute to the fish port complex when three men blocked their path while they were cruising along the Old Fish Port Road near Vifel Ice Plant-2 at around 1:30 a.m.

Threatening to hurt Heresano and her brother with bladed weapons, the suspects divested the fish trader’s bag of its content, including more than P30,000 in cash.

The suspects fled on foot towards the squatters’ colony near the highway.

The victims sought the assistance of the Night Watch cops, who immediately conducted a follow-up operation at the squatters’ area resulting in Guerrero’s arrest. The operatives, however, failed to recover the P30,000 loot.

The robbery occurred just a few meters away from the Navotas police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team post along Road-10, one of the crime-prone areas in Navotas.