Informant’s tip leads cops to ‘bike thieves’

CEBU, Philippines – Because of the information provided by a concerned resident, the Mandaue City police on Friday arrested two alleged notorious carnappers and recovered alleged stolen motorcycles from them.

Mandaue City Police Office Investigation and Detection Management Branch arrested Paul Arinasa and Michael "Baki" Chiong, both residents of Sitio Kauswagan, Barangay Talamban, Cebu City.

They were riding an allegedly stolen motorbike when the police, headed by Superintendent Michale Bastes, swooped on them.

Police Officer 3 Joefrey Neis, who was among the IDMB operatives who arrested the suspects, said they received a call from a certain Ronelio Repaja of Barangay Tabok, Mandaue City, informing them that he saw an XRM motorbike parked outside a convenience store in Barangay Tabok, Mandaue City, which he believed belonged to someone he knew.

The motorcycle with plate number 6736 YB was reported lost January 13.

Repaja also told the police that when he saw the motorbike, it was already a "skeleton" and without a plate number.  He added that it was driven by an unidentified man "possibly" carrying a handgun and with a passenger, who was also believed to be armed.

Acting on the information, Bastes and his team moved to the location of the possible suspects, and upon arriving at the scene, they immediately spotted Arinasa standing beside a skeletal motorbike, apparently waiting for Chiong to come out of the store.

The police then apprehended Arinasa, frisked him and recovered a .38 caliber revolver with five live ammunition from him.  The same caliber of a gun with five live ammunition was also recovered from Chiong when he was frisked by the police.

Neis said the two failed to show permits for their handguns so they may face charges for illegal possession of firearms and for violation of the Commission on Election gun ban rule.

The suspects likewise failed to show the official receipt for the motorcycle they were using. With this, a carnapping case will be possibly filed against them if the owner of the said unit will surface and claim it as his.

Neis said the suspects also purportedly admitted that they were the ones who stole the four other motorcycle units which the police recovered in different parts of Talamban yesterday.

Among them were a black and white Honda XRM motorcycle, two Honda Wave units (black and blue, respectively) and a Beat 90 Indoro. Except for Indoro which is now in custody of Talamban police, all the other bikes are now with the MCPO, waiting for their rightful owners to claim them.

All units were already devoid of their plate numbers.

MCPO chief Senior Superintendent Jonathan Cabal, who presented the stolen motorbikes to the media yesterday, urged those who fell victims of carnapping to go to their office and find out if any of the bikes was their property.

Cabal said the claimants only need to show documents to corroborate their claims.

"Notado na na sila, theft, carnapping and other crimes," said Neis of the two suspects who are now detained at the MCPO Station 1. (FREEMAN)