Navotas’ most wanted man falls

Police arrested the most wanted man in Navotas, who had been hiding from the law for almost three years, during an operation in Malabon Sunday.

Navotas City police chief Senior Superintendent Eric Reyes said the local police have been hunting Andrew Vergara, 25, a resident of Barangay North Bay Boulevard South (NBBS), for the murder of Genes Onasin last Dec. 19, 2004.

He added that Vergara is suspected to be one of three men who robbed Joey Garcia at 9:45 a.m. last Sept. 4 of P186,000.

Chief Inspector Bernabe Irinco, Navotas City police Station Investigation and Detective Management Branch (SIDMB) chief, said they are also looking into Vergara’s involvement in a series of robberies involving fish traders on their way to the Navotas Fish Port Complex.

At around 11:30 a.m. Sunday, the Navotas City police received a tip that Vergara was seen in the vicinity of the Malabon City cockpit.

Irinco and his team rushed to the area and arrested Vergara by virtue of an arrest warrant for Onasin’s murder.

Irinco said they considered Vergara as armed and dangerous when the suspect engaged them in a shootout in 2005 after they tried to arrest him. 

“This time we caught him without any weapon,” Irinco said.   – With Jerry Botial