Isabela store owners urged to install CCTV cameras

MANILA, Philippines - Police authorities are urging owners of grocery stores in Isabela to equip themselves with surveillance cameras to prevent Metro Manila-based crime syndicates from victimizing them.

Senior Superintendent Sotero Ramos Jr., Isabela police director, made the call following the arrest of six suspected members of two criminal syndicates in an interval of two weeks for distributing fake money and for stealing milk in grocery stores in the province.

Ramos said closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras made possible the arrest of members of the counterfeit gang and the so-called “ipit gatas” gang in Ramon town.

Ramos ordered his men to be on the lookout for criminal gangs, saying those arrested came from as far as Caloocan City and Navotas in Metro Manila.

“We should be vigilant against these criminal gangs. We noted that they strike here in the province apparently thinking that we are not very familiar with the modus operandi they are employing,” said Ramos in his directive to his station commanders.

First to be busted by the Isabela police was a counterfeit gang whose four members struck in Barangay Bugallion, Ramon town, buying assorted goods in the local market and a grocery store and paying for the items with fake P1,000 bills.

Last week, six members of an “ipit gatas” gang were cornered after stealing P40,000 worth of milk from a grocery store also in Ramon town.