6 men questioned over organized crime in Benguet

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Six armed men, all members of an alleged newly organized criminal syndicate that tried to evade a police checkpoint in Bokod town, Benguet are now being questioned after they were found with an assault rifle and three more high-powered firearms.

The alleged members of the syndicate whose names were still unavailable were reportedly aboard a Mitsubishi Delica van enroute to Region 2 via the Baguio-Nueva Vizcaya road in Ambuclao, Bokod, Benguet when flagged down along a checkpoint.

The syndicate, however, rammed through the checkpoint but were cornered in sitio Gurel, also in the said town.

The six, all from different addresses in Ifugao, Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya, went under tactical interrogation at the Bokod town police station and were brought to the Benguet police headquarters here for further questioning and investigation, Cordillera police director Chief Supt. Benjamin Magalong said.

They are being considered as “newly organized criminal group,"  Benguet police intelligence chief Supt. Mario Mayam-es said though without hinting any further if the group had already victimized people in Baguio and Benguet or elsewhere in the Cordillera.