Tuesday, July 08, 2008 Suspect in La Nueva heist arrested in Manila
APART from suspected robbery gang leader Roy Fernandez, another robbery suspect linked to last year’s La Nueva Supermart heist turned out to have been among those arrested by police in Pasay City last Saturday.
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Patrocinio Comendador, in a news conference yesterday, identified the suspect as Danilo Flores.
Flores was the same person who identified himself as George Avila during the arrest, Comendador said.
Comendador said he already informed National Capital Regional Police Office Director Geary Barias on the identity of Flores.
Barias directed Comenda-dor to furnish his office (Barias) information about Flores’ background.
Fernandez, along with Flores and Pascual Mata, were arrested after allegedly shooting it out with a team from Pasay City Police Office and National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) intelligence division, led by Senior Supt. Edgardo Danao.
The shootout left Fernan-dez’s companion Albert Almedilla dead after taking a bullet in the head.
Both Comendador and Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña believed that the arrest of Fernandez and the members of his group will bring abatement to major robberies in the city.
Osmeña said he is looking forward to having peace and order for some time with the arrest of the Fernandez robbery group.
The mayor, however, will not be extending to the arresting officers the usual cash incentive he gives Cebu City policemen who wound or kill suspected robbers during a
shootout.
“Whenever there are robberies, it’s usually them or the people from the same group. And so, with the arrest of this major organized crime group, we’ll have a little peace
and order until the next organized group comes and operates here,” Osmeña told a news conference.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Ronald Roderos said yesterday that with the arrest, there will be lesser chances of robberies occurring in the region.
Roderos said they received information from Mindanao that Fernandez’ group was headed for Manila. He said they passed that information to their counterparts at the MCPO.
Roderos, however, said police should not be complacent because Fernandez still had six other companions who are unaccounted for.
Comendador also said the city police cannot afford to let their guards down as they have received information about the arrival of another Mindanao-based robbery group in Cebu.
On the case of Flores, Comendador said the city police force has a copy of a warrant of arrest against him after he and three other robbery suspects belonging to the disbanded Casimero “Meloy” Garcia Robbery Group were charged with robbery with homicide cases in relation to the more than P2 million heist of La Nueva Supermart last August.
The case filed against Flores is non-bailable.
Since Flores was arrested in Luzon, Comendador said the most that they can do is to coordinate with the NCRPO and furnish them a copy of Flores’ warrant of arrest.
Comendador said the city police force still has to determine if Fernandez has standing warrants of arrest in Cebu.
The Fernandez group has been linked to the foiled bank robbery in Carcar City and the P400,000 heist of a money-changer shop in Cebu City last April. (JST/LCR)
