Arrested suspect tagged as 7-11 heist leader

MANILA, Philippines - One of the alleged members of the Ozamis robbery gang arrested Sunday was identified as one of the men who led a series of heists on 7-11 convenience stores, one of which resulted in the killing of an American business executive on Sept. 2.

Michael Dompor, 27, who was arrested along with four others, said they were only involved in “small time” robberies.

However, Chief Inspector Ferjen Torred, head of the Parañaque police’s intelligence unit, called The STAR yesterday and said that Dompor was actually Reymar Paran, who was being hunted for the series of LBC and 7-11 robberies that started in August and covers Cavite, Parañaque and Manila.

“I cannot be wrong. I saw him. He is Reymar Paran. We have been hot on his tail. He changed his name but he cannot change his face,” Torred said.

Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Station 7 commander Superintendent Ramon Pranada, whose men arrested Dompor, confirmed he was indeed Paran.

Paran, who was released last June prior to the Ozamis jailbreak after serving his sentence for car theft and frustrated homicide, was seen on a video taken by a surveillance camera grabbing cigarettes from a 7-11 store along Leveriza street during a robbery on Aug. 20.

Manila Police District (MPD) homicide investigators, led by Senior Police Officer 1 Alonzo Layugan, went to the QCPD yesterday to get Paran.

Torred identified the other suspected 7-11 robbers as Wilfredo Panogalinga Jr. alias “Kulot,” Harry Alfeche Sampiloc, and Mario Elumbaga. They are among the 12 inmates who bolted the Ozamis City Jail on July 28.

Panogalinga, who was meted six years for illegal possession of firearms, was the man who poked his gun at the cashier and announced the heist. Sampiloc and Elumbaga – serving sentences for drug pushing and theft, respectively – are the two other men seen in the surveillance camera footage.

Torred said the suspects stage robberies only on Sundays and official holidays.

Gang linked to 10 heists

Paran and the others arrested with him – Carlo Sanchez, Roger Gallego, Riza Singson, and Angelie Antonio – are reportedly behind more than 10 recent heists in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, QCPD director Chief Superintendent Mario dela Vega said.

Sanchez, Gallego and Paran admitted to robbing rice dealers in Pasig, Caloocan and Laguna, Dela Vega said, adding that the group also robbed Mall and More in Pasig City, Toelina Hotel in Manila and other establishments in Quezon City.

National Capital Region Police Office director Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina said both Sanchez and Paran hail from Ozamis City.

Among the items confiscated from the five suspects are a 9mm Ingram machine pistol with two loaded magazines and a silencer, an Uzi submachine gun, a .45 caliber Grandmaster pistol with three magazines and ammunition, a .38 caliber revolver with 11 bullets; a 9mm Luger with silencer and two magazines; and several plastic handcuffs.

QCPD deputy director for administration Senior Superintendent Joel Pagdilao said witnesses and victims in these past incidents would be invited to identify the arrested suspects. Their testimonies would form the basis of the robbery charges against the suspects, who are facing illegal possession of firearms charges.

Espina also said the suspects could be behind the robberies at Alabang Town Center, of six rice dealers in Caloocan City, the one at the LBC Molino, Cavite branch and a P10-million robbery in New Manila, Quezon City.