Bystanders help to arrest two robbers, a snatcher

Bystanders showed their power in helping solve crimes when they ganged up and arrested two suspected robbers and a snatcher in two crime incidents at the city's downtown area over the weekend.

The two suspected robbers were Inocencio Flores Oporto, 32, of barangay Basak-Pardo, and Wilmar Ompad Sablas, 32, of San Isidro II in Olango, Lapu-Lapu City.

The two, armed with knives, held up and grabbed the cellphone of 18-year-old April Jane Etom, a student residing at barangay Basak in Mandaue City.

Etom was walking with friends along the corner of Leon Kilat and P. del Rosario Streets last Sunday when the suspected robbers attacked her. She and her friends immediately shouted for help as the robbers fled.

A security guard, who was posted in a nearby establishment, reacted and sprung to chase the suspects. He caught up with the two and disarmed them then recovered the victim's cellphone.

In a separate incident at the corner of Borromeo and P. Lopez Streets in barangay Sto. Niño, bystanders chased and arrested a suspected snatcher then recovered the stolen piece of jewelry of the victim.

The suspect, 18-year-old Paul San Nicolas Membrellos of barangay Ermita, snatched the 24-karat necklace of 62-year-old Elizabeth Bandola, a resident of Tangke Dos in Naga town, who was walking in the area at the time.

Bandola initially resisted and held on to her necklace but Membrellos' youthful strength overpowered her to take her jewelry.

On his way to escape, however, some bystanders heard the victim's shouts for help and they responded by chasing Membrellos. They arrested him, recovered the stolen jewelry item, and turned him over to the police.

The three suspects were indicted for robbery and theft yesterday at the City Prosecutor's Office. - Edwin Ian Melecio/RAE