The Eastern Police District (EPD) has stumbled onto the existence of a big-time robbery syndicate following the arrest of a registered nurse and the recovery of a stolen laptop worth P90,000.
“What appeared to be a simple robbery turned out to be a well-entrenched criminal syndicate protected by influential people and ranking police officials,” said Senior Superintendent Eduardo Villena, head of the EPD’s District Investigation and Detective Management Division (DIDMD).
Villena said influential people and police generals and colonels tried to intervene when they arrested registered nurse Mark George Grino, 26, during an entrapment operation last July 11.
Villena said a certain Noel Valerio, who claimed to be Grino’s lawyer, even sent text messages warning him against filing charges against his client.
However, EPD director Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz directed Villena to file charges against Grino, who is currently detained at the EPD annex building detention center.
When The STAR tried to interview him, Grino said he will only present his side of the issue in court.
Villena said complainant Earl Michael Arcilla, 28, a marketing manager of the Wine Depot, lost his Dell Latitude laptop while he and his officemates were eating at a restaurant in Greenhills, San Juan City last week.
After several days, however, the victim saw his computer up for sale on the website www.tipidpc.com. He said he knew it was his computer because of the serial number. He coordinated with the EPD to arrest the person selling the laptop.
Villena said when they checked the website, majority of the laptops earlier advertised for sale were already deleted. “We strongly believed that we stumbled on a big-time syndicate. And we are digging deeper into this case,” he said.