Attempt to fix case of suspected Triad member bared

CEBU CITY — Some operatives from the Cebu City police detective bureau allegedly tried to fix the case of suspected drug courier and alleged Hong Kong Triad henchman Nanan Jimenez at the city prosecutors office.

Sources at the prosecutors office who asked not to be identified claimed yesterday the operatives tried to change their affidavits but assistant city prosecutor Vidal Gella rejected the idea.

According to the source, the detectives also insisted on delaying the filing of the case in court, claiming they were still conducting follow-up operations.

The sources said prosecutors, who are not inclined to believe that Jimenez is a member of the Hong Kong Triad, suspect that the Triad link was deliberately floated by the police to make good their desire to have the filing of the case delayed.

The prosecutors, the sources said, suspect that the intended delay was meant to allow for a possible settlement of the case.

Refusing to delay the case, Gella then filed the case in court against Jimenez and his younger brother Jovan and another companion, Victor Ceniza, who were all arrested with him.

"They wanted to fix everything here," the sources said of certain members of the detective bureau.

When they failed in that, they apparently tried to fix it elsewhere.

Thus, the sources said, the quashing of a court warrant against the accused was a consequence of the police’s failure to fix the case at the prosecutors office.

Judge Ildefonso Suerte of the Regional Trial Court in Barili had quashed the search warrant he himself issued against Jimenez, and declared all the items seized during the raid that led to the arrests inadmissible as evidence.

Suerte was allegedly obliged to quash the warrant when the police told him they seized the evidence in a place not covered by the warrant.

"I felt bad about this case because I know they are up to something," one prosecutor said. — Freeman News Service