2 HPG cops nabbed for robbery-extortion
AGENTS of the Philippine National Police Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP-IMEG) nabbed two members of the PNP Highway Patrol Group (HPG) in Cotabato City accused for allegedly extorting P50,000 from a complainant in exchange for the release of his impounded car last Friday, PNP-IMEG director Brigadier General Warren F. De Leon said.
The official identified the two as Police Master Sergeant Nassrol Gani and Police Executive Master Sgt. Benigno Briones Jr.
In a report to PNP chief, General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil, the PNP-IMEG director said that members of the IMEG Mindanao Field Unit, joined by operatives from the PNP Special Action Force, the PNP Intelligence Group and the Cotabato City Police Station, 1 conducted the operation that led to the arrest of the two.
De Leon said the two were arrested during a sting conducted at the Office of the Regional Highway Patrol Unit Bangsamoro Administrative Region at Zone 1 in Rosary Heights 1, Pedro Colina Hill in Cotabato City.
Recovered during the entrapment operation were two marked P1,000 bills and P18,000 cash.
The two suspects were also stripped of their Galil assault rifle, 28 rounds of live ammunition and caliber 9mm gun with 11 bullets.
De Leon said the entrapment was conducted amid a complaint from Suraff Pasandalan, who said the policemen and four still unidentified cohorts demanded P50,000 from him in exchange for the release of his green Honda Civic which they impounded.
The reason behind the impounding is not clear in the report.
The two arrested are now in the custody of the Cotabato City Police Station 1.
They will be facing robbery-extortion charges, the PNP-IMEG director said.
