5 robbery suspects killed in QC shootout

Five suspected robbers, including a former policeman, were killed in a shootout with police in Quezon City yesterday.

Traffic Management Group director Chief Superintendent Perfecto Palad identified the former policeman as Police Officer 3 Elmer Ramos, 33, through an identification card he was carrying. Ramos used to be assigned at the Eastern Police District (EPD).

Palad tagged Ramos as the leader of the gang involved in car theft and kidnap for ransom.

Two of Ramos’ companions were also carrying IDs in the names of Leonardo Requina, a native of Negros Occidental, and Rommel Lingon, 32, of Trece Martires, Cavite City.

Palad said they are still in the process of determining whether Ramos’ companions were also dismissed policemen.

Palad said he received reports about Ramos and his cohorts’ extortion and abduction activities last month.

However, it was only last week that Palad formed a police team to go after the suspects amid reports that they were out to kidnap a businessman in Quezon City.

Palad said their surveillance and monitoring operations revealed that Ramos’ group were out to abduct a money changer yesterday so he immediately set up roadblocks along D. Tuazon Street in Quezon City, where the supposed target was residing.

He said that when TMG personnel manning the checkpoint flagged down Ramos’ vehicle, the suspects allegedly reached for their firearms, prompting the lawmen to open fire, said Palad.

Palad said they recovered a .45 caliber automatic pistol, a .38 caliber revolver and a fragmentation grenade from the slain suspects.

The suspects’ bullet-riddled vehicle, a beige Isuzu Crosswind (ZBR-116) registered to Charley Evangelista, was reported to the TMG as stolen last Dec. 22, 2006 while parked at SM Bacoor.

Records show that Ramos was arrested in 2001 for possession of 200 grams of shabu in his belt bag while he was in the EPD’s anti-illegal drugs office. His superiors nabbed him when he was about to consummate a drug deal.

A lower court convicted him of the crime, said EPD director Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz. However, Ramos appealed his case before the Court of Appeals, which reversed the lower court’s findings.

Ramos was also arrested for car theft in Tayug, Pangasinan and Las Piñas City.