Cops nab fake gold bar vendor

OPERATIVES of Villanueva Police Station arrested a man allegedly selling fake gold bars during an entrapment operation Sunday afternoon in front of a church in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental.

Police Chief Inspector Surki Serenas, chief of Villanueva Police Station, identified the suspect as Leonilo Roa Fabre, 32, married and a resident of Alubijid town also in Misamis Oriental.

Serenas said Fabre was nabbed after he accepted the money from a gold buyer from Sucat, Parañaque identified as Gigi Cadayday, 43, in front of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.

He added the two gold bars that Fabre is selling are reportedly worth P72 million.

“It’s good that somebody informed us of the suspect’s modus so we arrested him right after the victim paid the money,” he said.

Serenas said he and his team were on civilian clothes and saw the actual payment in front of the church.

“The buyer said she also sensed that the gold bars are fake because these were so expensive. But the suspect told her he would make the deal if she would first pay P500,000,” Serenas said.

He pointed that if the gold bars are real, the seller would never agree to be paid in installment.

Upon investigation, police found out that Fabre was also pinpointed as a suspect in a robbery in the area on Saturday.

Fabre is now detained at the Villanueva Police Station and is facing a case of swindling while the fake gold bars are now under police custody.