The capture of two more suspects belonging to a notorious robbery gang based in San Miguel town practically busted its long trail of daring capers spanning two provinces—Bohol and Cebu. All six gang members fell one after the other in at least three hot pursuit operations conducted by the combined forces of Tagbilaran City , Panglao and Loay police departments and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG). The latest to fall in police hands were identified as Arsenio Polo alias Botyok and Al Fuentes. Both were collared in separate operations in Loay town. A concerned texter tipped off Loay police of the suspicious-looking Polo at the Palo bridge. He was with a woman companion when invited for questioning by the Loay police. Unknown to the policemen, they were interrogating a member of the robbery gang that held up the Bank of Commerce branch last Tuesday. Subsequent questioning led to the arrest of Fuentes who was resting in a bamboo groove in barangay Alegria Sur also in Loay. They have been using a Loay safe house for one month now. Earlier, four of their cohorts were captured one after the other also in separate operations. Cresencio Reguya was arrested after he was felled in a shootout with three of the bank security guards. One of the guards was killed while the two others were wounded. Succeeding pursuit operations resulted in the apprehension of the gang leader identified as Casimero Garcia alias Meloy, 24 and Gelvin Nuez, 19, at the Dumaluan Beach Resort in Bolod, Panglao town. A girl companion of Garcia and said to be his girlfriend was also taken for questioning. A van driver identified as Sofronio Remoreras, a cousin of Garcia was also arrested after he was known to have ferried the two gang members to the beach resort. Nuez was wounded in the shootout giving authorities the lead that he was part of the bank heist.
Meanwhile, Bohol Provincial Police Director Edgardo Ingking disputed the account of former Panglao mayor Doloriech Dumaluan who said resort security guards led the assault on Garcia and Nuez in their room at the Dumaluan Beach Resort. “I will set the record straight, because that's not true, Ingking said during the weekly Governor's Report Ingking said he recognized the guards in providing the police with information because the premises were in their control. With the busting of the robbery gang which gave so much headache to City Mayor Dan Lim, the public can now heave a sigh of relief that a notorious band was neutralized. Expressing elation about this development, Mayor Lim said the series of heists pulled off by the gang was the subject of negative commentaries putting Bohol in a bad light. He commended al those behind the arrest of all gang members. At the same time, the city mayor assured the family of the slain security guard that the city government would assume all his burial expenses. The city will also shoulder the expenses of the two other security guards who were wounded when shooting erupted between them and the robbery suspects. At least eight robberies in Cebu and Bohol were claimed by the group. The six robberies in Bohol where the group admitted to have pulled off were a robbery in Talibon and Unitop Store last December, Petron robbery last July, Island City Mall payroll robbery last March 8, FCB heist last January and the hold up at the Borja Clinic where a guard lost his 99 mm pistol. The same was used by the robbers in the Bank of Commerce hold up. Two robberies in Cebu where the gang were believed responsible were that of la Nueva Supermart and PenBank in Mandaue City .
AWARDS
Meanwhile, Loay Mayor May Imboy told the Post last night that she is contemplating to give an award to whoever tipped off the police in apprehending the two suspects in her town. The Sangguniang Bayan of Loay is also considering giving citations to the tipster and policemen involved in the arrest of the two suspects. The SB resolution will be authored by newly-minted PCL president Brigido”Boy” Imboy.
COMMENDATION
Governor Erico Aumentado Friday lauded the Bohol police for the quick solution of the high-profile broad daylight robbery of the Bank of Commerce in Tagbilaran City that killed a security guard and wounded two of his colleagues as well as two of the robbers themselves. During his weekly program The Governor Reports simulcast live over Bohol 's four AM radio stations, he congratulated Sr. Supt. Edgardo Ingking, provincial director, Chief Insp. Jacinto Cesar, city chief of police and his counterparts in Panglao and Loay towns for the capture of all six suspects in Tuesday's heist. When the gang allegedly headed by Casimero “Meloy” Garcia of San Miguel town started victimizing establishments in Cebu , the police and the media in that province started raising a howl – and their eyebrows – over what they deemed “inaction” on the part of the Bohol police. As early as mid-August however Ingking already submitted to Aumentado a confidential list of members of the Meloy group, their successful capers, the weapons and modus operandi they used, and reported the target-hardening efforts the police have so far initiated to neutralize the robbery gang. Ingking was on top of the situation, coordinating the efforts until the gang members became overconfident – firing away without provocation and even at the least obstacle to their purpose, he observed.
The governor also lauded City Mayor Dan Lim for his focus in ridding the city of criminal elements. “Although I was in Manila when the incident happened, I nevertheless called Sr. Supt. Ingking and asked him to give all out support to the city police and organize a dragnet to catch the culprits. I am happy with his quick response,” he said. Initial police investigation tagged the Meloy group as involved in the robberies of the Unitop money outside of the First Consolidated Bank, the gasoline station in Talibon owned by Judge Avelino Puracan, another gasoline station in Tagbilaran City owned by the Racho family, the payroll money of the security guards stationed at the Island City Mall and the La Nueva Supermart and still another bank in Cebu as well as the killing of the barangay captain of Magsaysay in Talibon. “Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña also expressed elation over the busting of the gang when I informed him of the capture of its members barely hours after the Bank of Commerce shootout,” Aumentado said. He and Osmeña had agreed that their police forces coordinate and exchange information to solve the Meloy group string of robberies.
The members now face cases before the Regional Trial Court of Bohol.
To note, Security Guard Remegio Canizar, 38, of Pacific World Security Agency died on the spot when two of the suspects peppered him with bullets from an Ingram machine pistol as he was about to open the door of the Adventure service vehicle of the bank that just arrived towards noon. The vehicle had just collected some P400,000 placed inside two bags representing the sales of Unitop Canizar's two colleagues managed to fire back, wounding Nuez and gangmate Cresencio Reguya. But the two guards – Meliton Lamoste and Tirso Fullido, both 30, were also wounded. In the scuffle, the suspects managed to pick up one of the bags. Garcia and Nuez were apprehended late that afternoon by Panglao police at Room 4 of the Dumaluan Beach Resort. Reguya was rushed to the hospital for treatment. Sofronio Remoreras, driver of the getaway van was nabbed later. Arsenio Polo was arrested near Palo Bridge in Loay at around 10:45 p.m. Thursday while Al Fuentes was nabbed before 7 a.m. Friday – both reported to the police by concerned citizens for their suspicious conducts. For his part, Ingking thanked the public for their cooperation. Considering the meager resources of the police, his newly implemented Operation Plan Sugpo Krimen is to a large extent dependent on the participation and support of the community especially in the area of information. After all, he said, crime is not just a matter for the police to solve; it is everybody's concern
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