Holdup man arrested in Quiapo

Alert policemen nabbed a notorious holdupman after robbing a professional billiard player of his expensive cue sticks worth more than P100,000 Monday night in Quiapo, Manila.

Jamail Simban, 30, a Bahala Na Gang member, of 346 Globo de Oro street, Quiapo, was arrested by responding operatives of the District Police Intelligence and Operations Unit of the Manila Police District led by Inspector Benjie Abad. Recovered from the suspect were a fan knife and a leather case containing two imported cue sticks.

According to Florencio Banar, 50, president of the Olongapo City Billiard Association, he was in Manila to take part in a professional billard tournament. He said he was on his way to his sponsor’s house in Quiapo when Simban sneaked from behind, poked a knife on his neck and divested him of his hand-carried leather case containing two imported cue sticks each costing more than P50,000 in the market.

Banar, who acquired the expensive cue sticks after winning the silver medal in billiard in the 1997 Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, said he almost became hysterical after losing his precious possession. Luckily, he sighted the DPIOU marked vehicle which was then patroling the Quiapo area. After hearing the complaint, Abad scoured the immediate vicinity together with Banar. The suspect was then spotted walking along Basan street near the Balikbayan Handicraft store in Quiapo. Abad and his men pounced on the suspect who gave up without a fight.

DPIOU chief Superintendent Rolando Yebra said the police have long been running after Simban who has been identified by a number of complainants as the perpetrator of several holdup incidents in the Quiapo district.

Simban admitted figuring in a number of encounters with the police, the latest of which is a shootout with then Plaza Miranda police community precinct head Chief Inspector Rodolfo Jamoralin. He was wounded in that encounter and had lain low for a while.

Yebra commended Abad’s team for the neutralization of the dreaded holdupman in Quiapo.