Cops raise alert vs fake peso bills

ILOILO CITY—Police have raised an alert against a criminal group using fake peso bills after nine alleged gang members were arrested in a series of operations in Boracay and Caticlan recently.

The nine suspects, mostly from Iloilo and Negros Occidental, were arrested in three operations by the Boracay and Malay police that took two days. Seized from the suspects were at least P92,000 in fake and genuine money, said Senior Superintendent Cornelio Defensor, Aklan police director.

All the suspects were detained at the Malay police station and would face various criminal charges including violation of the Revised Penal Code.

Defensor said representatives of the Central Bank would also file charges against the suspects.

Three other members of the group were believed to have eluded arrest and were being hunted.

Police first arrested Enrique Lastimoso, 40, around 8 p.m. on March 16 after he was accosted by a security guard at the D’Mall commercial complex on Boracay Island.

Lastimoso had bought an item at a flower shop inside the mall using a P1,000 bill which was later found to be fake. He was arrested after he returned to the shop and attempted to buy another item with another fake P1,000 bill.