3 police teams to pursue remnants of Kuratong Baleleng

Metro police chief Director Geary Barias dispatched three police teams yesterday to pursue six remnants of the Kuratong Baleleng gang, which engaged cops in a running gunbattle that left a Makati City police officer and a robber dead.

Barias said among those being hunted was the gang leader, Rey Halasan, alias Ranger who was arrested in Valenzuela City in 2004 also for robbery.

“We are still trying to determine how Halasan managed to get out of jail and commit more crimes. What we know is he is behind bars,” said Barias, noting that there are at least 13 remnants of the Kuratong Baleleng gang who are presently detained in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

The Metro police chief said the three teams were dispatched to Metro Manila and the provinces where Halasan and his gang are believed to be maintaining safehouses.

Barias clarified that the gang member killed in a shootout with combined elements of the Makati and Mandaluyong policemen was identified as Jimmy Espina, alias Bulldog, a native of Ozamis City and not Noel Compoc as earlier reported.

Senior Superintendent Gilbert Cruz, commander of the Makati City police said Halasan’s group were also behind the P2.4 million robbery against a bank client in Buendia last June 17.

Responding Makati policemen killed two of the gang members in a shootout.

Those killed in the Buendia shootout yielded plane tickets to Ozamis City, said Cruz.

“This goes to show that after staging robberies in Metro Manila, these robbers flee to the provinces to elude arrests,” Barias noted.