A COUPLE was arrested in an entrapment operation based on a complaint of robbery extortion against them in the province of Zamboanga del Sur, the police reported Friday, May 14, 2021.
Police Brigadier General Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Police Regional Office-Zamboanga Peninsula director, identified the arrested suspects as Ariel Basas, 54, and his wife, Emily, 44.
The couple was nabbed around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, May 13, in Sitio Militar, Barangay Dao village, Pagadian City, the capital of Zamboanga del Sur province.
Ylagan said the entrapment operation was launched after Staff Sergeant Rodyl Armada of the police station in Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur sought the assistance of the provincial police office.
Ylagan said Armada reported that the couple demanded him P30,000 payment so that they will no longer push through with the filing of an administrative case against the policeman.
The couple was unsatisfied with the settlement of a recent vehicular accident involving their relative, the case investigator of which is Armada, according to Yalagan.
He said the couple was immediately arrested by the team led by Police Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Buenaobra, head of the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Police Office's intelligence unit, after they received the marked money.
Seized from the suspects were 29 pieces of P1,000 bill boodle money topped with two genuine P500 bill as marked money and a cellular phone.
Ylagan said a case of robbery extortion was filed Friday, May 14, against the arrested suspects. (SunStar Zamboanga)