Rob gang leader, 3 cohorts slain

DINALUPIHAN, Bataan — The suspected leader of a notorious robbery-holdup syndicate operating in Central Luzon and three of his cohorts were killed in a shootout with police along the Olongapo-Gapan Highway here before dawn yesterday.

Senior Superintendent Hernando Zafra, Bataan police director, identified the slain gang leader as Raffy Dumlao, of San Antonio, Zambales. Dumlao’s three henchmen remained unidentified as of press time.

Police tagged the gang in a series of robbery-holdups of gasoline stations, banks and commercial establishments in Pampanga, Zambales, Bataan and Bulacan in the past three years.

Responding to an alarm from the Zambales police, Zafra said his men intercepted Dumlao’s group who was on board a Toyota Vios along the highway in Barangay San Benito here.

The group was reportedly headed to San Fernando, Pampanga after failing to rob a gasoline station in San Antonio, Zambales. — Raffy Viray, Ric Sapnu