THE alleged leader of the notorious Epogon Crime Group believed to be behind high profile robberies including the recent robbery and killing of a Belgian national was arrested by authorities in Sitio Patic, Purok 2, Barangay Isio, Cauayan on Sunday afternoon, June 21, 2020.
The Cauayan Municipal Police Station arrested Francisco Epogon alias "Junjun," 30, and a resident of Sitio Manluy-a, Brgy. San Jose, Sipalay City.
Epogon was arrested based on an arrest warrant issued by Judge Rodney Magbanua, presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 61 in Kabankalan City dated February 28, 2020.
The suspect faces charges of robbery in band with a recommended bail of P100,000.
He was arrested by personnel of the Cauayan police and the Provincial Intelligence Unit (PUI) of the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office.
Recovered from Epogon was a grenade.
The Epogon Robbery Group was earlier tagged by Colonel Henry Biñas, Bacolod City Police Office director, as the suspects in the recent rob- slay incident involving a Belgian national in Barangay Villamonte, Bacolod City, and other break-ins this year.
Biñas said the group was also behind the ransacking of the house of Dr. Carlitos Orola in Barangay Tangub, Bacolod on February 19.
He said there is also a possibility that the group was behind the robbery at a house in Barangay Estefania, Bacolod on February 29.
The group is also suspected to be responsible for robbery incidents that victimized the Northern Negros Electric Cooperative, a rice mill in Bago City, Negros Occidental, and another rice mill in Negros Oriental.
On Wednesday, the suspects entered the house of Carl Nolens, 76, at Villa Angela and killed him with a long firearm believed to be a rifle, based on the recovered empty shells at the crime scene.
His wife, Maria, was injured when she jumped from the terrace on the second floor of the house.
The suspects also poisoned the German Shepherd dog at the neighboring house by feeding it a poisoned chicken head.
Biñas said the suspects had also fed a poisoned chicken head to the dog of their target house in the southern part of Negros Occidental.
The police are looking into possible connections of the rob-slay incident Wednesday to other burglaries in the city this year.
Armed robbers entered the house of Dr. Orola, who is the brother of Bacolod Councilor Bartolome Orola and former Bacolod Rep. John Orola, and carted away about P1.4 million in jewelry, gadgets, bags, and other personal belongings.
On February 29, three armed suspects wearing masks and caps entered a house in Barangay Estefania by destroying the padlock with a bolt cutter and removing the window jalousie blades.
About P419,000 worth of belongings were stolen.
The next day, three armed men destroyed the cyclone wire perimeter fence and used an iron bar to open the door of a house in Barangay Taculing, Bacolod.
They stole two cellular phones, a liquefied petroleum gas tank, a sack of rice, a package, and frozen food from the refrigerator.
Armed suspects also entered a coffee shop in Barangay Villamonte, Bacolod on March 3 by cutting the padlock with a bolt cutter.