QC cops catch ‘bmw,’ ‘kia,’ ‘hummer’ in safehouse raid

Three alleged members of a group that had been tagged in the robbery of over 10 electronic games outlets across Metro Manila and nearby provinces were arrested by the Quezon City police last week.

The suspects, one of them an incumbent Manila barangay councilor, were caught in their safehouse at Morning Breeze Subdivision, Caloocan City, on Thursday.

They were located after authorities received a tip that they were planning to rob another e-games outlet at the corner of Edsa and Congressional Avenue in Quezon City.

Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel Jr., Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director, identified the suspects as Noli Balistoy, 43, also known as Hummer; 34-year-old Raynier Reyes whose alias was BMW; and Reyford Jefferson Reñola, 27, also known as Kia.

Information showed that Reyes was an incumbent councilor at Barangay 59 in Tondo, Manila.

Police said the group, which had reportedly been involved in 12 robberies since January, was led by a dismissed Caloocan policeman identified as Vladimir Binayug.

Gang leader still at large

During Thursday’s operation, however, Binayug managed to escape with another gang member, Nomer Cristobal.

Esquivel said the suspects had been under surveillance by the QCPD after they robbed two establishments in the city in May and in July.

He added that the suspects might have taken more than P1 million from the e-games outlets they robbed in Metro Manila and the provinces of Rizal, Bulacan, and Laguna.

Based on closed-circuit television footage and witnesses’ accounts, the heists usually took place between midnight and 3 a.m.