Manila cop nabbed for extortion

Police operatives arrested a Manila policeman and a city court employee during an entrapment in Ermita, Manila last Friday for extorting money from two traders.

Facing charges of two counts of robbery extortion and illegal detention were Senior Police Officer 2 Roberto Bunayog, 42, detailed at the Malate police station; and Grace Lim, 38, a stenographer at Branch 24 of Manila Metropolitan Trial Court.

The two were nabbed by elements of the District Police Intelligence Unit (DPIU) of the Manila Police District (MPD) led by SPO4 Benjie Abad while in the act of receiving marked money from a complainant inside a shopping mall.

DPIU chief Senior Inspector Baltazar Beran said victims Alwadud Dany Suganat and his wife Amy reported that the suspects claimed that charges for illegal recruitment will be filed against the traders if they will not pay P350,000 to the suspects.

Amy told Beran that last week she was arrested by Bunayog, who introduced himself as an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation, and showed her a warrant of arrest which turned out to be forged.

She claimed that Bunayog also took her jewelry and P50,000 cash and warned her not to report to police or the illegal recruitment case against the traders will be pursued.

Amy told Beran she suffered a nervous breakdown and was confined to a hospital due to stress she suffered.

Last Friday, the husband Alwadud Suganat received a telephone call from Bunayog who demanded an additional P300,000 to be deposited in his bank account. Suganat insisted on giving only cash. Suganat then sought the assistance of the DPIU operatives who laid out an entrapment operation.

At the designated payoff, it was Lim who showed up and received the marked money from the complainant. Upon her arrest, Lim was told to contact Bunayog on the pretext that the balance of the money will be handed over to him.

When Bunayog showed up and received the marked money, Abad and his men pounced on the cop. The DPIU operatives also found out that the warrant of arrest for the couple was faked by Lim.