More than a year after his arrest for name-dropping First Lady Liza Louise Araneta-Marcos in his group’s extortion racket, operatives of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) arrested a 47-year old man for unauthorized use of blinkers of their car which later yielded a gun and a plastic explosive in an operation in Parañaque City.

This time, Joselito Agtuca was collared along with the man who was allegedly posing as an undersecretary at the Office of the President and has been claiming as a relative of the First Lady.

Ambassador Markus Lacanilao, special envoy for Transnational Crime, narrated that Agtuca was among the three people arrested in Pasay City in March last year after an entrapment operation wherein they were demanding P5 million from the businessman who was threatened that his emission testing business would be shut down if he would not give the money.

The suspects, who were arrested by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), showed a video to the businessman and pointed their companion whom they identified as an undersecretary and relative of the First Lady.

Lacanilao said that the man in the video pretending to be a Palace official and a relative of the First Lady was JJ Cafe Javier who was arrested with Agtuca in the HPG operation on June 13 in Parañaque City.

Lacanilao said they have been hunting down Javier since March last year after they confirmed that the latter was also involved in the extortion racket involving businessmen in Cebu, using the same modus.

“They were asking money in exchange for the approval of business lime medicine and emission. And they were showing a video of the man posing as undersecretary at the Office of the President,” said Lacanilao.

Agtuca and the two other arrested suspects in March last year posted bail and that is the reason, according to Lacanilao, why they are out of jail.

He said the vehicle where the blinker and the protocol plate “12” were attached was the same vehicle that came up in the police investigation as the one being used by the suspects.

Aside from a 9mm pistol and a bulletproof vest, HPG operatives also seized a C4 explosive which Lacanilao said is prohibited to be owned by any civilian.

“We are coordinating with the Armed Forces of the Philippines regarding this case, especially on the question on how come he has this (explosive material),” said Lacanilao.

For his part, HPG director Brig. Gen. Eleazar Matta said the suspects were not able to present any document as to the ownership and records of the vehicle when accosted by his men.

“We are investigating because they appear to be ready for any armed confrontation and why they are carrying C4,” said Matta.

“We are also conducting a follow-up operation because the report we received was that there was another vehicle that was able to flee,” he added.

Matta said the arrested suspects are now facing a string of criminal charges.

Lacanilao, on the other hand, advised the public not to yield to any extortion demand using the name of the First Family and instead report the matter to the police for proper action.