AFTER hiding for nine years, the most wanted person of the Police Regional Office 4-B (Mimaropa) was arrested in Barangay Tambalisa, Concepcion, Iloilo on Thursday, March 21.

Police identified the suspect as Arcel Molino, 44, of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

Molino was caught in an operation conducted by the Regional Intelligence Unit– Western Visayas, along with the RIU 4B, Regional Intelligence Division of Police Regional Office (PRO)- Western Visayas, Criminal Investigation and Detective Unit- Western Visayas, and Iloilo Provincial Mobile Force Company 2nd Platoon at about 10 a.m.

He has arrest warrants for 63 counts of rape. One of his victim’s was a 16-year-old girl from Palawan in 2010.

A press release from PRO- Western Visayas said that authorities learned of Molino’s whereabouts when a complaint was filed against him at the Bataraza Municipal Police Station in Palawan.

Molino left Bataraza on November 12, 2010 and went to Iloilo.

During a stopover in Cuyo, Palawan on his way to Iloilo, he surrendered himself to the authorities but was not held due to the absence of an arrest warrant.

In 2015, he transferred to Tambaliza, Concepcion, after evading police officers, and worked as a carpenter in the area.

On October 30, 2017, he worked with a bottling company in San Miguel, Iloilo while staying at Peñaflorida Compound, Oñate de Leon, Mandurriao.

When he sensed that he was being monitored by police assets, he went back to Tambaliza, Concepcion, and worked as a carpenter until such time the operating troops arrested him.

Molino will be committed to the Regional Trial Court Branch 47 in Palawan to face the charges filed against him. (MAP)