By RICHIELYN CANLAS
Operatives of the Manila Police District (MPD) are hunting down six suspects, including five members of the Manila Police District (MPD) who allegedly extorted money from the owner of a computer shop in Sampaloc, Manila on Tuesday night, July 12.
The MPD identified the policemen suspects as Staff Sgt. Ryann Tagle Paculan; Staff Sgt. Jan Erwin Santiago Isaac; Cpl. Jonmark Gonzales Dabucol; Pat. Jeremiah Sesma Pascual; Pat. Jhon Lester Reyes Pagar; and the civilian as Menay Martinez.
The five policemen are assigned to the MPD-District Police Intelligence Operations Unit/District Intelligence Division (DPIOU/DID).
Based on the initial investigation, the six suspects went to the computer shop located on Matimyas Street corner Susan Street, Barangay 525 in Sampaloc at around 11:20 p.m.
The 73-year-old owner of the computer shop said that the suspects introduced themselves as police officers and that they were conducting an operation against illegal online gambling.
The suspects then demanded P40,000 from the owner in exchange for not getting arrested for illegal gambling.
They also took the P3,500 from the victim's table along with the 500-gigabyte computer hard disk drive where the files of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage inside the shop were stored.
The victim said that the suspects also demanded P4,000 every week as "protection money" to which the victim complied.
The victim said he gave the suspects P4,000 every Friday.
MPD Chief Brigadier Gen. Andre Dizon relieved all the personnel of DPIOU from their posts, including their district chief, for the extortion committed by the five policemen.
Dizon also formed tracker teams to locate the suspects.
Administrative and criminal charges are being prepared against the suspects.