Three notorious robbery and theft suspects were arrested while a man and a minor were caught for illegal drugs by operatives of the Cebu City Police Office Monday evening and yesterday dawn.
Two of the arrested suspects were said to be notorious pickpockets and burglars. They are identified as Julius Apostol, a resident of barangay Pasil, and Patrick Aranas, a native of Parang, Dinaig, Maguindanao.
The two had rented a room in Forest Hills, Banawa, barangay Guadalupe but they abandoned it more than a month ago. But yesterday dawn, they decided to return to get their things.
Sr. Inspector Michael Anthony Bastes, chief of the Theft and Robbery Section of the CPPO, said prior to the arrest of Apostol and Aranas, the house owner discovered several wallets and used syringes and empty ampules of nubain inside their rented room.
The discovery came after the owner of the house decided to forcibly open the room after learning that the occupants no longer returned.
Bastes said Apostol and Aranas failed to pay three months of their rentals of the room and left without informing the house owner, who decided to open the room when they noticed the electric fan was still functioning.
Yesterday dawn, the owner of the house called up the police when Apostol and Aranas returned and took their clothes, which they loaded onto a Kia black sedan bearing plate number YAU-175.
The Mobile Patrol Group and TRS personnel intercepted them before they could leave the house and recovered more than 40 wallets, and several syringes and empty ampules of nubain.
Police also recovered several sim packs of cellular phones and pawnshop receipts from the suspects’ possessions.
“Kini sila (Apostol ug Aranas) ang modus ani nila anha sa mga mall ug sila maoy responsable sa mga pagpanguot nga mahitabo sulod sa mga mall,” CCPO director Patrocinio Comendador said.
Meanwhile, robbery suspect Redentor Lambo, 20, of sitio Itom Yuta in barangay Lorega San Miguel was arrested after he snatched a cell phone from a female passenger of a public utility jeepney earlier that day.
In another police operation, the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch arrested a certain Bernard Bocanegra and a minor during a random checkpoint along V. Rama Avenue in barangay Calamba yesterday dawn.
The minor was caught with at least 15 small packs of suspected shabu while Bocanegra was caught with empty sachets of suspected shabu and paraphernalia.
The two, who were on board a motorcycle, tried to evade the checkpoint but were eventually arrested by the police.
The authorities said they saw the minor throw something away and when they recovered it, they found that it contained shabu. - Edwin Ian Melecio/LPM