2 suspects in murders of 2 Customs men fall

CEBU CITY — Two suspects in the recent ambush-slaying of two Customs men here have been arrested and are now in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

NBI sources have confirmed the arrests but nobody was willing to be quoted and identified.

The two suspects, whom the sources also refused to identify, will be presented to the media by NBI director Reynaldo Wycoco who is flying in from Manila solely for the purpose.

The NBI sources consider the arrest of the two suspects as a breakthrough in its investigation into the murders of Customs deputy collector Eduardo Lao and examiner Bennet Soreno, which have been linked to the rampant smuggling of rice in Cebu.

Recently, the NBI took into its custody several people involved in the theft of two container vans containing alleged smuggled rice from Singapore and they have implicated a number of ranking Customs officials.

The two vans were part of a 10-van shipment seized by Customs. The NBI believes that the seizure had something to do with the killing of Lao and Soreno by two motorcycle-riding men since Lao was the one who ordered the seizure of the shipment.

The NBI went on high alert the other day because of controversial personalities now under its custody. It apparently sought police assistance in securing its regional offices near the provincial capitol.

The other night, a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team and other policemen were seen inside the NBI compound to beef up security.

NBI regional director Reynaldo Esmeralda told The Freeman that he has information that transtrainer operator Arnel Ondoy, reach stacker operator Arnold Glodove and Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) errand boy Rustico Fernandez would be "rescued" from the NBI.

Glodove and Ondoy admitted having facilitated the spiriting out of the two vans, while Fernandez reportedly confessed to having recruited them at the behest of a certain Winley de la Fuente, with certain Customs officials allegedly having knowledge of the operation.

Esmeralda and all his agents stayed at the NBI office the other night to secure their witnesses, saying the syndicate involved is capable of springing them.

The NBI’s Cebu office only has less than 24 agents.

So far, the NBI has charged five people in connection with the disappearance of the two container vans — Glodove, Ondoy, Fernandez, De la Fuente and a certain Fernando Feliciano, a cargo checker of the Oriental Port and Allied Services Corp. (Opascor), the sole foreign cargo handler at the Cebu International Port.

Glodove and Ondoy were also Opascor employees.

Despite the recent breakthrough in the case, Esmeralda said they still face a blank wall on who masterminded the theft of the two container vans and the killings of Lao and Soreno. — Freeman News Service