Drug informant nabbed for extortion at Camp Karingal

An anti-drug agent was arrested in the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) office at Camp Karingal while receiving part of P.6 M he allegedly extorted from a Muslim couple.

Chief Superintendent Raul Castañeda said Reynaldo Berjida was in the District Anti-Illegal Drugs (DAID) when he was arrested.

Myla Alagasi said she and her husband, Taha, and brother, Mohammad, were arrested by DAID police officers on Wednesday during an anti-drug raid on their residence at Barangay Culiat, where police raiders also reportedly seized P65,000 in cash and five cellular phones.

The three were taken to the DAID’s office at Camp Crame, where Myla said she was told by Berjida, who introduced himself as SPO3 Zamora, that she would be released to produce P600,000 to buy the freedom of her husband and brother.

Faced with this problem, Berjida went to Director Sukarno Ikbala, who heads the Philippine National Police’s Police Community Relations Group at Camp Crame, to report the incident.

Ikbala relayed the matter to Castañeda, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), who immediately ordered a sting operation that led to Berjida’s arrest.

“The DAID people have a lot of explaining to do over this case,” said a CIDG insider.

He added that an investigation is being conducted to determine possible involvement of DAID police agents in illegal drug raids, known as “bangketa” in police parlance, to extort money from arrested suspects.   – Jaime Laude