3 Bolt Cutter gang members caught in Caloocan

Police arrested three suspected members of the notorious Bolt Cutter gang in the act of robbing a computer shop early yesterday in Caloocan City.

Caloocan police chief Superintendent William Macavinta identified the suspects as Artaban Aranas, 40; Ronaldo Castro, 40; and Reynaldo Santos, 44.

The police seized from the suspects a Pentium 4 central processing unit (CPU) worth P15,000 and a steel saw inside their get-away vehicle, a blue Nissan Vanette (UPX-766).

Macavinta said at around 5:15 a.m., a tricycle driver reported to the Police Community Precinct (PCP) 5 that he saw some men park their van in front of the Workplace Computer Shop on 5th Avenue in Grace Park. The computer shop is owned by Julie Ann Bagus.

A mobile patrol team, led by Senior Police Officer 1 Reynaldo Abesamis and Police Officer 3 Teresito Barrameda, was dispatched to verify the report.

“When my men arrived in the area, they caught the suspects in the act of loading a CPU into their get-away vehicle,” Macavinta told The STAR.

Macavinta said the suspects positioned their van in front of the computer shop’s door so that passersby would not immediately detect what the suspects were doing inside the shop.

Macavinta described the group as “well-organized” and with a “compartmentalized” operation. He said an unidentified member of the group delivered the get-away van to the three suspects before dawn yesterday in Blumentritt, Manila.

The suspects immediately dispose of the stolen goods to a ready buyer they contacted two to three days prior to the operation.

The Caloocan City police are still trying to establish the suspects’ link to a series of computer shop thefts in the city.

“The modus operandi in the previous robberies were alike and the vehicle used is similar with the one we impounded from the three suspects,” Macavinta said.

He said his men are already tracing the owner of the seized vehicle. He called on owners of burglarized computer shops to coordinate with his office for the filing of charges against the arrested suspects.