MANILA, Philippines — The plainclothes policeman who joined other cops in pinning down hostage-taker Alchie Paray outside V-Mall in San Juan was trying to pull out handcuffs from his pocket, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas said Wednesday.
Sinas was reacting to social media posts pointing to a video of a man in a gray jacket and cap who appeared to surreptitiously try to pull out a piece of object from his back pocket and hand it down to cops who scuffled to pin down Paray.
“Let me clarify that the alleged object pulled out from the pocket of the policeman was a handcuff. He pulled out his handcuffs and tried to give it to the arresting officers,” Sinas said in a statement.
The NCRPO chief gave assurance that Paray will be kept safe.
“Our fellowmen has nothing to worry for I made a clear instruction — keep him safe,” he said.
On Monday, Paray, a sacked security guard, disrupted operations in V-Mall in Greenhills after taking hostage around 60 to 70 people, mostly mall employees, for 10 hours. He offered to release the victims after his superiors apologized and resigned from their posts.
Paray is now in the custody of police, facing charges.
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