CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga – Four members of a syndicated group engaged in the pilferage of molasses and other liquid products were arrested in a police operation in Abucay, Bataan over the weekend.
Police Regional Office 3 director Brigadier General Jose Hidalgo Jr. identified the suspects as Franklin Cañete of Barangay San Ildefonso, Magalang, Pampanga; Jhun Miguel of Cauayan City, Isabela; Jimmy Carag also of Cauayan City, Isabela; and Joel Austria of Abucay, Bataan. Another suspect identified as Freddie Batilo remains at large and is being sought by the authorities.
Hidalgo said that after confirming the intelligence report from a police asset, he immediately dispatched a team of policemen from the Regional Special Operation Group and Regional Mobile Force Battalion 3 headed by Colonel Jay Dimaandal to apprehend the suspects.
Hidalgo said that after confirming the intelligence report from a police asset, he immediately dispatched a team of policemen from the Regional Special Operation Group and Regional Mobile Force Battalion 3 headed by Colonel Jay Dimaandal to apprehend the suspects.
He said the operating team caught red-handed the suspects while in the act of pilfering a truckload of molasses weighing 19 tons with an estimated market value of Php335,000.
According to Hidalgo, the suspects were unloading a 10 wheeler truck loaded with molases parked along the Roman Highway in Barangay Mabatang, Abucay, Bataan.
The suspects were transfering the molasses to an empty 12 wheeler tank truck when they accosted by the police.
The suspects are now detained at Abucay municipal jail after criminal charges were filed against them in court.
