Robber cabbie a businessman in home province – probers

MANILA, Philippines - A taxi driver arrested Tuesday for allegedly being a member of a gang preying on passengers was known as a legitimate businessman in his home province of Apayao, a police official said yesterday. 

Nestor Dionaldo Reli ventured into making clay pots in Pudtol town to support his family, but when his business is not making money, he would travel to Metro Manila to raise funds over several days, according to Intelligence Group (IG) director Chief Superintendent Fernando Mendez.

When neighbors would ask him about his job in Metro Manila, Reli would say he was a taxi driver, Mendez said.

Reli is indeed a taxi driver, according to Mendez, but he also belongs to a gang responsible for at least 12 robberies involving taxi passengers in Quezon City and eastern Metro Manila this year alone.

“Reli’s cover as a businessman did not arouse suspicion among his neighbors. But an informant spotted him and reported his presence to the IG and we made the effort to arrest him,” said IG Counter-Intelligence Division chief Senior Superintendent Ronald Lee.

He said the modus operandi of Reli and his gang is to drive a taxi around posh subdivisions in Quezon City and eastern Metro Manila, especially the Ortigas business district, and pick up passengers.

The driver would either stop in the middle of the road or at a gas station to allow two gang members to rob the passengers, Lee said.

“The gang would also empty the ATM accounts of the victims before dropping them off in Fairview or other areas of Metro Manila,” Lee said in an interview. “Some of the victims were given fare money before they were released.”

After these robberies, Reli would go back to his clay pot business in Apayao, Lee said.

Reli was arrested on the strength of an arrest warrant for robbery issued by a Quezon City judge, who set bail at P60,000. – Non Alquitran