Policemen arrest three fake gold bar swindlers

Police arrested three men, whom they identified as members of a syndicate of swindlers from Mindanao, during an entrapment operation last Saturday in downtown Cebu City.

Police said the swindlers were trying to close a transaction selling fake gold bars to three different buyers from Manila and Cebu City.

The buyer from Cebu got suspicious of the deal and sought the advice of the Cebu City police about the transaction.

Chief Inspector Bonifacio Garciano, chief of Investigation and Detective Management Branch (IDMB) of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) asked that the buyer not be named for security reasons.

Police convinced the buyer to help them set up an entrapment operation against the three swindlers.

The operation resulted in the arrest of  Cirilo Ramos, 46; Aurelio Villegas, 54; and Reynaldo Sarita, 64.

All of them are residents of Davao City, who came here to close the fake gold bar transaction with the local buyer, a  Bicutan, Taguig City buyer and another buyer from Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

Police said the buyers were convinced by a certain Susan in Manila to buy gold bars worth P3 million each in Manila.

The transaction with the three unsuspecting buyers was to be closed in Cebu.

After which, Susan passed the negotiations to the three suspects from Davao, who waited at a downtown hotel for the them.

They met at a downtown food chain.

Police said they used a wad of money worth P100,000 in the operation.

The suspects offered a gold bar weighing 6 kilos for P3 million.

The gold bars  turned out later to be fake.

When the suspects accepted the P100,000 cash, the police moved in and arrested them.

Garciano said the suspects were members of a nationwide syndicate selling fake gold bars.

The suspects are detained at the Cebu City detention cell pending the filing of swindling/estafa charges against them.