CEBU, Philippines - A considerable number of cases will be decreased with the arrest of a local robbery group in Cebu City, said Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director Danilo Constantino.
Constantino said the four-man group led by Rogelio Acojedo was apparently disabled and eventually will lie low following their arrest.
“This coming Christmas season, baka mawalan tayo ng five to six cases,†he said.
The PRO 7 director admitted that he was alarmed with the series of robbery incidents and other crimes in Cebu City that were perpetrated by Acojedo’s group.
“This group has the potential of committing crimes bigger in magnitude,†Constantino claimed.
He then directed the Regional Intelligence Division (RID) and the City Intelligence Branch (CIB) to do something to arrest the group.
So far, Acojedo and his alleged subordinate, Sandy Kho, have been arrested while the police continue to hunt down their two other cohorts.
The group pulled off robbery twice in one day, taking away nearly P1 million in cash and was also reportedly responsible in the shooting to death of a real estate broker this month.
Constantino said the firearms recovered from the suspects were already submitted to the Crime Laboratory for ballistics test, to determine if these were used in other crimes outside Cebu City.
The PRO 7 director further said that they are also checking if Acojedo’s group worked as a local contact to robbery groups based in Mindanao, which has figured in major heists both in Cebu and in Manila.
CIB chief Romeo Santander said they have not yet monitored though any Mindanao-based robber groups that might have entered the city.
“But we’re mainataining na wala g’yuy makasulod,†said Santander.
Police arrested Acojedo and seized from him two firearms last Friday along MJ Cuenco Avenue.
Acojedo was reportedly seen parking a multicab outside an establishment in Lapu-Lapu City before hailing a taxicab for Cebu City.
Acojedo was identified by Kho who revealed the names of group members in his assurance to the police to cooperate in the case. (FREEMAN)