Terrorist impostor nabbed for extortion

He was not a terrorist after all.

But Marvin Hernandez managed to "terrorize" his employer, Japanese businessman Takaaki Morikawa, president of Automotive Interiors Corp., who hastily left the country after receiving a cellular phone call from him.

Hernandez introduced himself as a member of an international terrorist group which operates here and in Japan, and demanded P2 million from Morikawa. If the trader ignored the demand, his firm in Sta. Rosa, Laguna would supposedly be bombed and his wife in Japan would be killed.

Out of fear, Morikawa left the country. But before doing so, he informed the Japanese Embassy about it. This prompted the police and military intelligence agents to act since rumors about the presence of foreign terrorists in Laguna, spawned by Hernandez’s modus operandi, were starting to scare off investors.

An entrapment was laid out. Agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces pounced on Hernandez yesterday as he was about to retrieve a brown envelope containing P2 million in cash from the back seat of a car parked in front of a convenience store in Sta. Rosa town.

"Napalundag lahat kami ng lokong ito (He made all of us jumpy)," said Superintendent Zoilo Lachica, head of the CIDG team.

"I just made it all up. I am confused," said Hernandez, adding that he needed the money for his pregnant girlfriend.

He asked for forgiveness from Keiso Oueda, vice president of Morikawa’s company.

Charges of extortion and grave threats are being readied against Hernandez, who is detained at the CIDG detention cell at Camp Crame.