QUEZON City Police District yesterday wrote finish to a series of robberies of computer shops in the metropolis with the arrest of five culprits, caught on camera during a recent holdup at local Internet shop.
QCPD director Chief Supt. George Regis Regis identified the suspects as Jimmy Concordia, 32, Ryan Dellota, 22, Ruben Dante Jr., 28, Arsenio Gelarce, 18, and Marlon de Guzman, 27.
Regis said the suspects, believed to be members of the “Sagasa Gang,” failed to notice four closed-circuit television cameras inside the shop they robbed last Saturday night.
He added that the culprits shunned establishments with CCTV cameras and security guards to avoid identification.
“That’s where they made their mistake,” Regis said.
Apart from the CCTV footage, the five suspects were also positively identified by the cashier and student customers in last Saturday’s robbery at the Jetz Internet café on Aurora Boulevard in Barangay Marilag.
Regis said he believed the group is led by a former Manila policeman and took its name from their modus operandi of robbing persons along C-5 Road while riding tandem on motorcycles.
They have been blamed for robberies at the LBC Anonas branch, Pizza Hut in Libis, Tri-Color Photoshop on Aurora Boulevard, Lying-In Clinic in Tatalon, and a Lugawan and Bulaluhan in Marikina City.
“Their arrest should be a strong reason why shops and stores should install CCTV cameras,” Regis said.
He said the five suspects were rounded up in a series of follow-up operations on Wednesday and Thursday in Quezon City and Makati City
Concordia, Dellota, Dante and Galarce were caught on their motorcycles at 9 p.m. Wednesday at the corner of Batino and Narra Streets. De Guzman, who was waiting for his share of the loot, was arrested at around 3:30 a.m. Thursday in Makati City after his companions squealed on him.
Seized from them were two motorcycles and three .38-caliber revolvers and three bladed weapons.
Superintendent Virgilio Fabian, QCPD station 9 commander (Proj.4) , said they also found on the suspects four mobile phones and assorted credit and ATM cards, also believed to have been stolen.
A tipster told investigators that he recognized the suspects who had allegedly been going to the house of a former policeman, a certain Rey Galang, who is believed to be the leader of the gang in Barangay Amihan, Fabian added.
