3 highway robbers arrested in Navotas

MANILA, Philippines - Three rob suspects were arrested when patrolling Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team chanced upon them while robbing a passenger jeepney in Navotas City at midnight Saturday.

Police Officer 3 Resty Castillo said Horacio Naval, 27; Eduardo delos Santos, 19; and a 17-year-old boy yielded a knife and a stolen cell phone.

The suspects are all residents of Pitong Gatang street in Barangay Sipac, a depressed area in Navotas and known to police as a haven for criminals.

A Special Weapons and Tactics team, composed of Police Officers 3 Elpidio Espina and Marco Santos with Police Officer 1 Angelito Galvez, was on a routine patrol along C-4 Road when they saw a commotion inside a passenger jeepney.

The police officers, onboard their patrol vehicle, approached the passenger jeepney and saw the three suspects robbing the passengers. Seeing the heavily armed police officers, the suspects gave up peacefully.

Police recovered from Naval a knife and a P17,000 mobile phone owned by Ernesto Dayapan Jr., one of the passengers.

The suspects were locked up yesterday at the Navotas City police detention cell pending filing of proper charges against them. – Pete Laude