An urn containing the ashes of a beloved father and other stolen items were recovered in a church as Cebu City police arrested two men linked to a series of car lootings in Metro Cebu.
The urn was found abandoned in St. Therese Church in barangay Lahug along with a laptop, credit cards and other documents stolen from a car parked in A.S. Fortuna Street, Mandaue City, on Saturday.
A church worker called up the Mabolo police after finding the items in a sealed plastic bag yesterday morning.
PO3 Arnulfo Aventjado said Mabolo police traced its owner after reading about the stolen urn in a Cebu Daily News report yesterday about the latest victim of the “bukas kotse” gang.
The urn was returned to 54-year-old Eulalia Uy of Consolacion town. The ashes were her father’s, she said.
Mandaue City police said they viewed video footage of the car break-in taken by closed-circuit TV cameras of a nearby business establishment but the images need to be enhanced for clarity.
As this developed, two men were arrested in relation to the “bukas kotse” cases in Metro Cebu.
A policeman assigned in Basilan who escorted a mayor to Cebu City was also robbed of P30,000 cash, a laptop and several items stored inside a rented vehicle in the North Reclamation Area (NRA) yesterday.
The Theft and Robbery Section (TRS) identified the arrested suspects as Jonathan “Eric” Espiritu, 29, and a certain Kirk Riscar
Espiritu, a resident of barangay Camputhaw, was arrested near the Sto. Niño Basilica last Saturday by the Waterfront police.
Riscar, a resident of T. Padilla, was arrested at his home after Espiritu identified him along with Dennis Riscar, who remains at large.
Espiritu said in an interview that he and his cohorts stole from vehicles parked by the road while riding in Riscal’s Honda Civic sedan.
Espiritu said he joined the group nearly a year ago in barangay Mambaling, Cebu City.
Yesterday marked Espiritu’s third arrest for theft.
Espiritu said if they wouldn’t find any valuables inside a vehicle, they would steal the engine distributor.
He said they used screwdrivers to open the vehicles.
Insp. Ramil Morpos, deputy chief of the Investigation and Detection Management Branch (IDMB) of the Mandaue City Police Office said they are verifying the involvement of the suspects in other similar robberies.
Chief Insp. Bonifacio Garciano, TRS chief, said Espiritu and Riscar were involved in several car burglaries in Metro Cebu.
Recovered from the suspects were one .9mm pistol owned by a Coast Guard officer.
On the other hand, PO1 Alwalid Jalilul Usalli, who is assigned at the Lantawan municipal police precinct in Basilan province, reported the loss of valuables from a rented vehicle he was using.
Usalli told Mabolo police he lost his .9mm pistol, his Neo computer netbook and one cellular phone inside a bag while his companion, Majid Aliyul, lost P30,000 cash and one laptop inside the car.
Jalilul escorted the Lantawan mayor to Cebu. They discovered the theft after they had lunch in a restaurant at the North Reclamation Area. /Jucelle Marie P. Cuyos and Chito Aragon