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A government prosecutor asked the Sandiganbayan’s third division yesterday to convict four Cagayan de Oro City police officers for conducting an illegal search on three container vans and unlawfully arresting the vans’ driver, operator and consignee during a raid in 2004.

In a memorandum, assistant special prosecutor II Gay Marie Lubigan pressed for the conviction of Senior Superintendent Raul Basilio Donido Boac, Inspector Ramon Betuin Golong, SPO2 Cesar Fantone Beltran, and SPO2 Roger Alcantara Basadre, all belonging to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) based in Cagayan de Oro City.

Another policeman, SPO1 Benjamin Castañeda Alfonso, also a CIDG member, was not included in the memorandum since he is still at large.

Court records show that on July 27, 2004, the five police officers, without any lawful authority from the Bureau of Customs, flagged down and conducted a search and seizure operation on three container vans consigned to Japan Trak Surplus based in Barangay Agusan, Cagayan de Oro City.

In doing so, the prosecutor said they violated Section 2203 in relation to Section 3612 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines.

The policemen, in their defense, however, said they conducted a legal search based on a tip from an unidentified source that the vans contained contraband goods.

The vans were held for a day at Camp Evangelista in Barangay Patag, Cagayan de Oro City, but no contraband items were found, only goods that were legally being shipped to Cagayan de Oro City.

The policemen conducted the search even if the Customs office in Cagayan de Oro had cleared the shipment during an inspection, the prosecutor said.