3 cops held for extortion

MANILA, Philippines — Three policemen, who allegedly extorted money from a man they beat up during a law enforcement operation, were arrested in Rodriguez, Rizal yesterday.

Senior Master/Sgt. Jose Reyes and Staff Sgts. Ramel Delorino and Glenn Libres were apprehended by operatives of the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group in an entrapment in Barangay Rosario at around 8 a.m., the IMEG said in a report.

The three reportedly yielded P37,000 in marked money, three handguns and six mobile phones.

The victim said the policemen handcuffed and forced him into a police vehicle, beat him up and threatened to file charges against him for illegal drugs.

The target of the operation was the partner of the victim, who has an arrest warrant for violation of the Bouncing Check Law.

The policemen allegedly demanded P100,000 from the victim in exchange for not arresting his partner.

In Zamboanga City, armed men who claimed to be policemen carted away P2.1 million in cash and valuables from the house of a businessman on Tuesday night.

Al-ghabid Umabong, 27, said the suspects, who were wearing police Field Special Unit uniforms, pretended to serve an arrest warrant for his father Abdurajik Abdul and barged into their house in Barangay Tetuan.

Umabong said the suspects, who claimed to be members of the Philippine National Police Regional Special Operations Group, took P200,000 in cash on top of a drawer and P1.9 million in cash from their two vaults aside from eight cell phones.

Col. Alexander Lorenzo, Zamboanga City police chief, said a manhunt for the suspects is underway.