More victims tag 7 fake cops

MANILA, Philippines - Two more victims identified yesterday seven men as police officers who robbed them.

Drug suspect Henry Santos Sr., arrested Thursday for alleged drug peddling, said he thought three of the seven men being hauled into the same detention cell he occupied looked familiar – they were the ones who barged into his house last July and took his money and some belongings.

Santos identified the three men yesterday in front of Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Chief Superintendent Mario de la Vega.

“All the while (during the search) he was thinking they were real policemen until they met each other in jail,” De la Vega said.

The seven suspects were arrested at a checkpoint in Barangay Sta. Lucia Friday night by operatives of the QCPD Station 5, said station commander Superintendent Virgilio Fabian.

QCPD deputy director for administration Senior Superintendent Joel Pagdilao identified the suspects as Romeo Mendoza, Johnny Mendoza, Ricardo Puzon, Edwin Mallari, Alejandro Cortez, Fernando Tolentino, and Augusto Rodriguez. According to Fabian, those tagged by Santos were Puzon, Tolentino and Mallari.

When they were arrested, the suspects, then in a black Toyota Lite Ace van, claimed they were policemen but were unable to present their badges and identification cards, Fabian said.

Larry Pimo, 48, went to the police station and tagged the seven men in a robbery last week. He said he was on his way to work when three men got out of a vehicle and accosted him.

“I was shoved into their van and we went around Jordan Plains (Subdivision) for about two hours,” Pimo said.

Pimo said the suspects claimed they were policemen but could not tell him what his violation was. He also claimed he was brought into a house in Novaliches. Eventually he was dropped off somewhere after the suspects had taken his bracelet, Swiss knife, cell phone and P6,000.

During follow up operations, another suspect, Reynaldo Buen, was arrested at the house where Pimo was supposedly taken. Buen allegedly yielded a bladed weapon and a teabag of marijuana.