Passengers fight back

For this pair of crooks, responding policemen turned out to be a welcome sight.

Two of four robbers preying on jeepney passengers were beaten black and blue by their victims before they were turned over to authorities Friday night in Caloocan City.

Reynaldo Galvez, 30, of Block 27, Lot 30, Phase 2, Area 1, Dagat-Dagatan, Navotas, and Blas Barrientos, 23, of Block 26, Lot 68, Phase, 2, Area 1, also in Dagat-Dagatan, were nearly lynched by their victims if not for the timely arrival of a police officer.

Chief Inspector Chris Galvez, officer-in-charge of the Northern Police District (NPD) intelligence and investigation division, said that at around 9:15 p.m. Friday, a passenger jeepney (NWL 406) driven by Julieto Agunas, 35, was cruising along Dagat-Dagatan Avenue in Caloocan City when four of his passengers staged a heist.

Armed with bladed weapons, the suspects divested their fellow passengers of cash and valuables. They alighted on Tanigue Street, only a few meters away from the NPD headquarters.

As the suspects fled, the victims sought the help of bystanders in the area. The "good Samaritans" were able to corner two of the suspects.

The angry victims, aided by the mob, ganged up on the two men and the beating only stopped when PO1 Rodolfo Caravana Jr. of the NPD arrived.

Recovered from the suspects were part of the loot they divested from eight of their fellow passengers and a double-bladed knife they used in the robbery, Galvez said.

The suspects boarded the passenger jeepney along Abad Santos Avenue in Manila. It was plying the Gasak (Malabon)-Recto (Manila) route.

NPD director Senior Superintendent Marcelino Franco Jr. ordered his men to conduct follow-up operations for the possible arrest of the two other suspects.

Meanwhile, a 52-year-old man was arrested for estafa and possession of counterfeit peso bills after committing the mistake of trying to cheat a drugstore in Caloocan City twice yesterday.

Romeo Alicaya, jobless, of Dahlia Street, Camarin, had asked an unsuspecting 14-year-old girl to buy vitamins using a P500 bill. The girl was able to make the purchase and then left the store.

However, store owner Joselito Fernandez became suspicious of the P500 bill so he had it brought to the bank for verification. When informed it was counterfeit, he sought the help of police.

Emboldened by his initial success, Alicaya sent the same girl back to the drugstore with another fake P500. Waiting lawmen collared the surprised girl, who led them to the suspect. – With Jerry Botial