AN motorcycle theft suspect was arrested after his friend was caught stealing a bike in Sitio Barba, Barangay Duljo-Fatima yesterday morning.
Ryan Abellana, 33, is now detained at the Mambaling Police Station after his friend, who was arrested by residents in the barangay, squealed that he was also involved in a series of motorcycle thefts in the barangay.
PO1 Raymond Pial, Police Community Relations (PCR) officer of the Mambaling police, said he also fell victim to motorcycle theft in Barangay San Nicholas.
Pial is tracing if if the group was the one who stole his motorcycle in March last year.
An initial investigation by the police said that at 5 a.m., Rester Montebon, 20, who hails from Liloan, was caught by residents stealing a motorcycle.
The residents arrested him. He escaped but not before telling the residents that Abellana was one of his cohorts.
Montebon allegedly had a pending case in the Liloan Police Station but investigators are still verifying if he has records there.
Keys
According to Senior Insp. Edward Sanchez, chief of the Mambaling police, there are only a few cases of motorcycle theft in their area.
Police recovered pieces of evidence from the suspect, such as motor keys and Sim cards.
Pawnshops
The two allegedly sell the bikes that they stole to a certain “Jerome” and various pawnshops in the city.
The motorcycle that was stolen by Montebon was recovered but the one stolen by Abellana was not.
Abellana denied the allegations. He said it was just recently that he became friends with Montebon.