Ozamis rob gang chief falls

MANILA, Philippines - The alleged leader of the Ozamis robbery gang was arrested in his hideout in Noveleta, Cavite Friday, bringing to 11 the number of reported gang members now in police custody.

Ricky Cadavero, alias Kambal, and his common-law wife, Wesley Adelan, did not resist arrest when they were cornered by a team composed of members of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and the Calabarzon police.

The police team also arrested “Randy,” the gang’s alleged driver, in a subsequent raid at their safehouse in Bacoor City.

Earlier, the Southern Police District (SPD) arrested three members of the gang, one of them in Lucena City, while the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) collared five others at a checkpoint two weeks ago.

The Ozamis gang and its breakaway group, Alferez gang, were reportedly planning to stage a robbery in Metro Manila, prompting NCRPO director Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina to intensify police visibility in malls and commercial centers where banks, pawnshops, and money-changer shops are located.

Espina also directed his five district directors to deploy motorcycle-riding personnel of the Special Weapons and Tactics and Special Reaction Unit in the streets.

Cadavero was arrested on the strength of four arrest warrants issued by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Ma. Luisa Padilla for robbery and frustrated murder.

Espina said the gang’s driver yielded a .38 caliber revolver and two .45 caliber pistols. The raiders also confiscated from his house a Montero Sports, a Toyota Innova and a Honda CRV. The NCRPO is coordinating with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to determine whether the seized vehicles were stolen or bought by the gang for future heists.

Cadavero, Adelan, Randy and the three other alleged gang members – Gregorio Telen, Antonio Espera and Ramil Espera – are currently undergoing tactical interrogation by SPD director Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona.

Despite Cadavero’s arrest, Espina ordered heightened security measures in Metro Manila as the remaining hardcore members of the group and the 15-man Alferez gang remain at large.

The Ozamis gang was linked to a series of heists in Metro Manila, Cavite, Cebu and other parts of the country.

The NCRPO said the gang was behind the robberies at the Alabang Town Center in Muntinlupa City last Sept. 14; a 7-11 convenience store in Malate, which resulted in the death of American Robert Edward Armstrong on Sept. 2; the Robinsons Metro East mall on June 22; the Robinson’s Galleria on March 29; the foiled heist at the Alabang Town Center on Feb. 10; the money-changer shop robbery at the Robinson’s mall in Novaliches, Quezon City on Dec. 5, 2011; the robbery at Robinsons Palapala in Cavite on Oct. 29, 2011; and the massacre in Lapu-lapu City, Cebu on June 9, 2011 of a former associate, Fernando Canillo, his partner and their three-year-old son. – With Ed Amoroso