4 ‘NBI agents’ nabbed after Navotas trader cries extortion
Four men posing as agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) were arrested Friday night after a businessman in Navotas City accused them of robbery and extortion.
The Navotas police identified them as Rolando Garcia Roque, 38, a resident of the city; Reynaldo Marvella Gueta, 48; Michael Miranda, 27, and Rolando Rafael Marvilla, 38, all of Valenzuela City. Miranda allegedly used the alias “Tomy Odulio Ong.”
Senior Supt. Dante Novicio, the chief of the Navotas police, said the suspects were arrested based on a complaint from Nober Lobrino, owner of Pearl Chassis shop, who said they forced him at gunpoint to cough up P15,000 for his “protection” on March 3.
Lobrino asked them to come back later for the money—but he went on to alert the local police.
The suspects were all in a red Isuzu Crosswind when intercepted by a police team at the corner of M. Naval and Lapu Lapu streets in Barangay Northbay Boulevard South around 7:20 p.m. on Friday.
They yielded two .45-cal. pistols with three magazines and 23 rounds of ammunition, a shotgun with nine rounds, P11,300 in cash and “NBI IDs.”
Novicio said a check with the NBI revealed that the four were not in the bureau’s roster of agents.
They later admitted that they had no connection whatsoever with the NBI, according to the case investigator, PO2 Joemir Juhan.
The group also confessed that they started posing as agents two years ago, demanding “protection money” from victims.
The suspects remained in detention at the Navotas police headquarters as of Saturday on charges of robbery, extortion, grave threats, usurpation of authority, illegal possession of firearms, and violation of the election gun ban. Jodee A. Agoncillo
