Tricycle driver, teen nabbed for robbery

Using a toy gun and a knife, a tricycle driver and a teenage boy staged two robberies in 30 minutes in Marikina City yesterday.

Responding policemen arrested Mark Fortuna, 25, and his 16-year-old cohort after they pulled off their second robbery job.

“They claim that they were only out to raise money for their families, so they were forced to resort to robbery,” said Superintendent Sotero Ramos Jr., Marikina City police chief.

Ramos said Fortuna yielded a replica of a 9mm pistol and the teenager a fan knife.

Initial reports showed that Fortuna, of Barangay Cupang, Antipolo City and his companion decided to resort to robbery to raise money for their families’ Noche Buena, the traditional Christmas eve feast.

Ramos said the first victim, Carla Boco, 21, was walking along Olive street in SSS Village at about 1 a.m. yesterday when Fortuna and his companion, on board a tricycle, stopped alongside her. At gunpoint, Fortuna grabbed Boco’s shoulder bag and drove away.

Ramos said the suspects then robbed Juliet de Luis, 28, of her shoulder bag along Chesnut street in Barangay San Roque at about 1:30 a.m.

Unknown to the duo, the Marikina City police tactical operations center alerted other police units after they robbed Boco.

After receiving the De Luis robbery report, Inspector Fabian Ribad Jr., and PO1s Robel Agsawa and Floriano Layao of the police precinct in Barangay San Roque flagged down Fortuna’s tricycle. Ramos said the suspects admitted their crime.

Boco and De Luis identified the suspects during a confrontation at the Marikina City police station. The victims thanked the policemen concerned for recovering their shoulder bags.

The two suspects are currently detained at the Marikina City police detention center pending the filing of robbery charges against them before the city’s prosecutor’s office.