PHILIPPINE National Police’s Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP-IMEG) Director Brigadier General Warren F. de Leon on Tuesday announced the arrest of two Pasig City policemen and their two civilian cohorts accused of illegally arresting a local resident they accused of illegal drug use and demanding P100,000 for her release without any charges.

In a report to PNP Chief General Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr., the official said one of the police is a desk officer of Pasig City Police Sub-Station 7, while his fellow cop is a beat patroller of the same station.

De Leon said that the four were arrested in an entrapment operation around 9:00 p.m. Monday at Bule Creek in Barangay San Miguel, Pasig City.

They are now facing charges for robbery-extortion and violation of Republic Act (RA) 10591, or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulations Act of 2013, and RA 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, the official said.

Members of the PNP Integrity Monitoring Action Team or IMEAT, the 35th Special Action Company of the PNP Special Action Force’s 3rd Special Action Battalion, and the Pasig City Police Station conducted the sting in coordination with the Eastern Police District (EPD) headed by Col. Wilson C. Asueta.

Asueta ordered the administrative relief of the Pasig City Police Sub-Station commander following the arrest of the two policemen who will also be subjected to a drug test.

According to the PNP-IMEG director, a female complainant went to their office in Camp Crame to seek police assistance after being told by one of her siblings that there is already a PNP unit called IMEG tasked to go after “rogues in uniform” round-the-clock.

Journal Group sources said that the accused targeted the woman amid information that she is a “drug user.” After illegally arresting her outside of Pasig City, the suspects also asked her to sniff shabu in her residence several times.

According to the woman, the suspects forcibly entered their house in Cainta, Rizal, at around 11 a.m. last October 18 and took her money amounting to P10,000 as well as her daughter’s coin bank before taking her near the vicinity of the Pasig City Police Station where they told her she was being arrested for illegal drug use.

“However, the woman said she was not detained, was not taken inside the police station, and was released in the early morning of October 19,” De Leon said.

He also said that the two policemen are also in much bigger trouble after they were found to be operating out of their jurisdiction without any written order from their superiors.

The woman said that the suspects initially demanded P100,000 from her but later reduced the amount to P10,000 in exchange for the non-filing of an RA 9165 case against her.

The suspects allegedly instructed her to pay the amount via GCash. Initially, the woman said she sent an initial P6,000 to the GCash account forwarded to her by one of the suspects.

The suspects then brought her back to her residence while asking her to pay the remaining P4,000. After her release, the complainant said that the suspects kept on contacting her to demand the balance, and out of fear, she went to her sister’s house in Taguig City.

Last Sunday, the woman’s siblings convinced her to seek the help of the PNP-IMEG in investigating her police tormentors.

De Leon said that they launched the entrapment operation after one of the suspects again texted the complainant and told her they needed the P4,000 she owed them.

The suspects were arrested on Monday evening when they arrived at the complainant’s house and immediately demanded money from her.

Recovered were the four marked P1,000 from one of the cops, one plastic sachet of shabu, a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol with two loaded magazines, and a cellphone.

On the other hand, the other cop was stripped of his PNP-issued Taurus 9mm pistol with three fully-loaded magazines and two mobile phones.

Their civilian cohort yielded a cal. .45 airsoft pistol and his Yamaha Mio motorcycle were also impounded by the PNP-IMEG.

The records of the motorbike are still being checked as of press time amid an instruction of Azurin for the PNP-IMEG to go after erring policemen who are using recovered motorcycles or motor vehicles.

De Leon said that the Taurus pistol recovered from one of the two policemen was a PNP-issued firearm.

He said that a record check showed that the two arrested Pasig City policemen were on their Counter-Intelligence Watchlist. One of them was accused of involvement in a mauling incident and illegal firearm discharge, while the other accused is involved in an estafa/swindling case.

All four suspects were immediately taken to Camp Crame shortly after their arrest and are now locked up at the IMEG detention facility.

“I commend the members of the Integrity Monitoring Action Team (IMEAT) for their swift action in this case,” said De Leon.

He said that IMEAT is a 24/7 IMEG duty team organized to deal with walk-in complainants.

“This is to ensure that we could react immediately when the need arises, just as in this successful operation. May this serve as a warning to all PNP personnel involved in illegal schemes. Be ready to face jail time because this is the PNP’s directive that there will be no respite in our internal cleansing program. We will execute our mandate regardless of who gets hurt,” the IMEG director said.