After pawnshop rob: Ports security to be tightened

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines – Security at all ports of entry and exit in Negros Oriental must be strengthened further, according to Supt. James Goforth, Dumaguete City Police chief, after the daytime robbery of a pawnshop in the city involving at least 10 suspects who were believed to have come from Mindanao.

Goforth said seaports and the lone airport in Negros Oriental have to institute tighter security measures to aid law enforcers in their anti-criminality campaign.

Safety nets such as utilizing security cameras, K-9 sniffing dogs and X-ray machines and close scrutiny of bags, luggage, cargoes and vehicles would largely help the police not just in preventing crimes but also in their post-crime investigation and the tracking down of suspects.

Operatives from various provincial and city units of the police have busted the pawnshop robbery with the arrest of one suspect and the recovery of the loot and getaway vehicles, less than an hour after the incident.

One of the suspects, Jesuslo Alegria, arrested during the police dragnet operation, claimed he was from Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur. He and his companions were believed to be members of an organized crime group based in the Pagadian-Ozamis areas, Goforth said.

Recovered from Alegria were the loot of jewelry amounting to an estimated P5-million. He was also charged in court last Tuesday, along with other “John Does,” for robbery-in-band and illegal possession of firearms and an explosive.

A black Toyota Revo and three motorcycles, used as getaway vehicles, were later traced to have originated from Mindanao, transported on a roll-on, roll-off vessel that left the Dapitan port and arrived in Dumaguete hours before the robbery was pulled on the same day.

The registration papers of the vehicles were suspected to be dubious, Goforth said, adding that the firearms recovered from the abandoned Revo were slipped through the ports unnoticed.

Police Regional Office-7 director, Chief Supt. Danilo Constantino, who visited Negros Oriental for the first time since his recent assumption in office, has directed the firearms and explosives office to conduct ballistics tests on the firearms found in the vehicle.

Constantino also directed the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NOrPPO), headed by OIC director, Supt Alet Virtucio, and Goforth to check with the Land Transportation Office on the plates of the Revo and the motorcycles, believed to have come from Mindanao.

The PRO-7 top official further instructed Virtucio and Goforth to submit the names of those involved in the quick resolution of the robbery incident, saying that all of them deserves commendation.

The date for the giving of commendations for the policemen that resolved the pawnshop robbery was however not immediately made available. (FREEMAN)