Cop who supplied uniforms to slain kidnappers held

MANILA, Philippines — A police officer who allegedly supplied police uniforms and firearms to five suspected kidnappers killed in a shootout with police operatives in Laguna on Tuesday was arrested yesterday.

Senior Police Officer 2 Leo Pamonag is under the custody of the Philippine National Police-Anti-Kidnapping Group.

PNP-AKG chief Senior Superintendent Glenn Dumlao said Pamonag is the “adviser” of the slain suspects.

Dumlao said Pamonag provided the names of potential victims of the group, mostly ”high-value” drug suspects.

He said the modus operandi of the group was to pose as anti-drug operatives and raid the houses of these drug suspects. They would then ask money from their victims in exchange for not filing drug charges against them.

“They got the money, they also got shabu from their victims,” Dumlao said.

He said the group operated in Quezon City and Taguig, but sold the shabu seized from the victims in other areas.

Businessman Rolando Arguelles, who was the subject of the rescue operation that led to the killing of his kidnappers, is a high-value target of the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) police. His family coordinated with the police after the kidnappers demanded P700,000.

Efren Perez, chief of the  PNP Directorate for Research and Development, said they plan to regulate the manufacture and sale of police uniforms and insignias following the incident.

“We are reviewing the PNP policy on the distribution of uniforms,” Perez said.

He said the PNP is considering taking over the distribution of police uniforms to ensure that these would not end up in the hands of criminals.

The slain suspects are former security guards who posed as anti-drug operatives, Chief Superintendent Chitadel Gaoiran, Calabarzon police spokesperson, said.

Four of the fatalities were identified as Simplecio Pareno, Marcelino Sican, Juan Vicente Lubasco and Jairo Adanzo.

They were earlier identified as SPO3 Fernandez, SPO2 Adalla, PO3 Dizon and PO2 Rebadulla through their badges. – With Ed Amoroso