A FORMER member of the National Capital Region Police Office who was dismissed from the service for his purported involvement in robbery-extortion and kidnapping-for-ransom activities was arrested Friday in his hiding place in Laguna.

Philippine National Police Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP-IMEG) director, Brigadier General Warren F. De Leon said former Police Staff Sergeant Michael Rikk B. Carpena was arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest for robbery issued by Judge Myra B. Quiambao of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 203.

“We have accounted for another rogue PNP personnel in line with our intensified effort to arrest and account for police officers and men facing criminal charges in court as ordered by PNP chief General Benjamin C. Gen. Acorda, Jr.,” the PNP-IMEG director said.

Members of the PNP-IMEG Counterintelligence Division tracked down the accused in his house at Block 15, Lot 15, Villa Paloa in Barangay Banlic in Calamba City in Laguna past 7 p.m. Friday.

The accused was one of the policemen subjected to a thorough investigation in 2020 on orders of former PNP chief General Debold M. Sinas.

He said that Gen. Sinas then ordered the arrest of all police personnel involved in a robbery incident in a POGO establishment at Block 2, Lot 5 Ibarra Street in Rizal Village in Alabang, Muntinlupa City on August 11, 2020.

Brig. Gen De Leon said their investigation showed that at least seven armed men forced their way into the Alabang compound past 12 noon, disarmed a lone security guard and identified themselves as agents of the National Bureau of Investigation.

The suspects held at gunpoint 16 Chinese nationals.

The incident took place shortly after the driver of the Chinese nationals identified as Angelo Perlota went outside the compound. When he returned after a few minutes, the suspects rushed him as he was about to enter the gate and quickly stripped their security guard of his firearm.

Some of the suspects then went directly to the room where the main CCTV room was located, seized the hard drive and gathered all 16 Chinese nationals and their six Filipino employees in one room before stripping them of their personal belongings.

The gunmen fled with some P400,000 worth of cash and nearly P400,000 in valuables including two diamond rings and other gadgets.

Brig. Gen. De Leon said that on January 6, 2020, they found out that Carpena survived a gun attack on Manuel L. Quezon Avenue in Bgy. Bagumbayan in Taguig City perpetrated by two motorcycle-riding assassins.

He added that the accused has also been identified as a former member of the Arnaiz-Quilpa kidnapping-for-ransom group involved in KFR activities in Metro Manila and was included in the National Watchlist on Illegal Drugs in 2020.