QCPD: Inmate may have planned escape

Authorities are looking into the possibility that fugitive Pedro Rodica had contact with members of his robbery gang before he was snatched from his police escorts last Friday.

Superintendent Procopio Lipana, commander of the Quezon City Police District-Station 7, said a female inmate admitted that Rodica once borrowed her cellular phone and saw him sending text messages. The cell for female inmates is just beside that of the male detainees.

“It’s possible (that Rodica was contacting his gangmates before he was snatched),” Lipana said in an interview.

Rodica was snatched on Edsa-Cubao allegedly by members of his own gang while he was being transported to the Quezon City Jail.

Eight armed men in two vehicles blocked the patrol car and snatched Rodica, who is facing criminal charges before separate courts in Makati and Quezon City.

Rodica was earlier snatched last December from his jail escorts in Manila while on his way to attend a court hearing in Makati. But last April 15, police were able to re-arrest Rodica in his hometown in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.

Rodica, who is one of the 10 most wanted criminals in Quezon City, is said to be the leader of a robbery group preying on money exchange shops.

The group, which is said to be composed mostly of former military and police personnel, had reportedly amassed more than P100 million from their operations.