Kuratong Baleleng behind robberies in Metro

The remaining members of a robbery gang who engaged policemen in a running gunbattle through two cities last week is behind the rash of robberies in Metro Manila over the past few months, Metro police chief Director Geary Barias said yesterday.

He said intelligence agents of the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) claimed that remnants of the Kuratong Baleleng gang are behind the robberies of an armored van in Market! Market! at The Fort; Marquinton Mall in Marikina City; RC Cola warehouse in Novaliches, and the United Coconut Planters Bank along Rodriguez Avenue, both in Quezon City; a call center in Cainta, Rizal; and a failed armored van heist in Cainta.

Barias said they are digging into reports that some members of the Kuratong Baleleng gang teamed up with other robbery gangs to pull off other heists in Metro Manila.

Barias vowed to neutralize the robbery gangs operating in the metropolis to bring the police “closer to the Metro Manilans.”

NCRPO intelligence chief Senior Superintendent Edgardo Danao said three teams were dispatched to get the suspects who shot dead Police Officer 2 Warren Balang and hurt PO2 Rommel Salcedo. The two were on routine patrol when they noticed the suspects’ heavily tinted vehicle. The suspects shot the lawmen when they approached.

Responding lawmen chased the suspects from Makati Avenue in Makati City through a bridge that connects Makati and Mandaluyong cities, and cornered them in Mandaluyong.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr., ordered Balang’s posthumous promotion as well as the promotion of Salcedo.

Investigators established that Salcedo hit robbery suspect Jimmy Espina and two others with his issued shotgun.

Reports said Espina and his two companions jumped into the Pasig River at the height of the shootout along J.P. Rizal street in Barangay Mabini, Mandaluyong City.

When he emerged from the waters along the Lambingan bridge, located at the boundary of Mandaluyong and Manila, the wounded Espina took a tricycle and ordered its driver to bring him to an area south of Metro Manila.

However, Manila Police Station 6 police officers caught Espina and brought him to the Lourdes Hospital, where he died.

Danao said they are working to account for the remaining Kuratong Baleleng group and bring them behind bars. At least 13 of the gang members have been arrested and jailed at the government facility in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. – Non Alquitran