Cops robbing Binondo traders arrested

A dismissed policeman and his AWOL (absence without official leave) colleague, allegedly responsible for robbing Filipino-Chinese traders in Binondo, were finally arrested Tuesday by intelligence operatives of the Manila Police District.

Intelligence chief Superintendent Leo Francisco identified the suspects as Police Officer 3 Joey Ricardo, a dismissed policeman, and PO2 Faustino Centeno, of the MPD’s District Mobile Force who had recently gone on AWOL since Oct. 10.

The District Police Intelligence and Operations Unit has received numerous reports that two persons wearing police uniforms are allegedly involved in a series of robbery-holdup victimizing mostly Filipino-Chinese businessmen riding on taxis or tricycles in Binondo and Divisoria areas, Francisco told The STAR.

The suspects are reportedly riding in tandem on a green colored motorcycle without license plate, he added.

On Tuesday afternoon while DPIOU operatives were conducting covert operations on areas identified as bases of the suspects, a pedicab driver reported a robbery incident along Soler street in Binondo where an unidentified Chinese couple was held up by two persons in police uniform and riding in tandem on a green motorcycle with no license plate, according to DPIOU head Chief Inspector Audie Madrideo.

Acting on the complaint, Madrideo instructed his men to scour the area on board their police-marked vehicle where the witness positively identified two policemen on board a motorcycle on stop on a traffic light.

Senior Inspector Dennis Rodriguez, Inspector Bernard Pagaduan and PO3 Delfin Silva cautiously approached the duo, introduced themselves and asked for their identification. Centeno reportedly tried to draw his .45 caliber pistol but the DPIOU operatives quickly disarmed him.

At the police headquarters, Centeno’s firearm was found to have no license and he has no permit to carry firearm outside residence. Madrideo is calling on robbery-holdup victims to identify the suspects who are presently detained at the MPD’s integrated jail.

Charges of usurpation of authority or official function, illegal use of uniform and insignia and illegal possession of firearm and ammunition were initially filed against the two suspects.