IMEG jails Cebu City cop for kotong
A CEBU City police traffic investigator accused of “extortion” was arrested by agents of the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) in an entrapment operation on Wednesday, PNP-IMEG Director Brigadier General Warren F. de Leon said Friday.
The suspect, a police staff sergeant, is now facing criminal and administrative charges for robbery-extortion following his arrest at the parking lot of Miller Hospital in Tres de Abril Street in San Nicolas, Cebu City, 3:20 p.m. last Wednesday, the official said.
PNP Chief Gen. Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr. earlier ordered the PNP-IMEG to further intensify their campaign against rogues in uniform and see to it that police officers being complained of involvement in illegal activities, specifically drugs and robbery-extortion will be identified and put to jail.
According to De Leon, members of the IMEG Visayas Field Unit, with the assistance of officers from the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Regional Intelligence Division (RID), the Cebu Police Provincial Office (PPO), and the Cebu City Police Office, launched the sting following a complaint from a local resident.
It turned out that the complainant sought the help of the local PNP-IMEG after the policeman flagged him down along Atillos Street in Barangay Mambaling and told him his motorcycle will be “impounded.”
An investigation showed that the policeman and some local ‘force multipliers’ were manning a checkpoint in the area when they flagged down the complainant for a still unknown violation.
The complainant said that the 40-year-old policeman from the Mambaling Police Station 11 initially demanded P10,000 from him but later reduced the amount to P3,000 prompting him to file a complaint before the PNP-IMEG.
The IMEG Visayas office launched the entrapment operation with the support of the PRO7 operatives and arrested the accused, who opted to remain silent after being apprised of his constitutional rights.
The accused is now being held at the IMEG office in Cebu City, said De Leon. BY ALFRED DALIZON & ZAIDA DELOS REYES
