A rookie cop and his cohort were arrested for allegedly robbing a government employee in Caloocan City Tuesday night.
Superintendent Remigio Gregorio, Caloocan City police station North Extension Office chief, identified the suspects as Police Officer 1 Rodolfo Llacona Jr., 28, assigned at the Headquarters Support Services unit in Camp Crame, Quezon City, and Adan Maquirang, 40, a resident of Bagong Silang, Caloocan City.
Recovered from the suspects were a pink handbag with documents inside and a mobile phone both owned by Teresita Sebastian, 47, employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in Manila, and a resident of Camarin also in Caloocan.
Senior Inspector Ronald Perilla, Caloocan City police North Extension Office intelligence and investigation chief, said that Sebastian was walking on her way home when a man, armed with a handgun, blocked her way and declared a heist. While pointing a gun at Sebastian, another suspect divested the victim of her handbag and cellular phone.
The robbers fled on foot toward a white Toyota Corolla taxi (PYD-915) parked a block away from the crime scene. The cab sped off en route to Bagong Silang. Sebastian sought the assistance of the Police Community Precinct 16 in the area where a police officer radioed the other precincts about the incident.
A team, led by Perilla, was immediately dispatched to intercept the suspects’ get-away vehicle and arrest its occupants.
“Our team intercepted the suspects’ get-away vehicle on Zapote Road driven by Maquirang with Llacona inside,” Perilla told The STAR. Llacona initially resisted arrest by introducing himself as a police officer and showed his PNP badge but when Perilla’s men checked on the taxi, they found inside Sebastian’s pink bag and her mobile phone placed under the seat.
“At first we did not find the victim’s cell phone but when we dialed its number, it’s ringing under Llacona’s seat,” Perilla said.
Perilla’s men seized from Llacona an unlicensed Super .38 pistol with eight bullets, a knife, a black bonnet and a PNP badge (175761) while Maquirang also yielded a knife.
The police also impounded the suspects’ taxi. – Pete Laude