MetroBriefs

2 men caught red-handed with stolen cell phone

Thanks to patrolling policemen nearby, two thieves were caught while trying to escape from their victim in Navotas City early Monday.

Police officers from the Northern Police District (NPD) arrested Jerry Esplana and Nilo Bacsal who were running away with a cell phone they had taken from a man who was walking home in Barangay (village) North Bay Boulevard South (NBBS).

Police reports said that the victim, identified as King Philip Garcia, 31, a resident of Barangay Longos, Malabon, was walking on Catleya Street in Agora, NBBS, at 4:30 a.m. when  Esplana and Bacsal came up to him and declared a holdup at knife-point.

The two took the victim’s cell phone which was worth P2,000 and then dashed away from the scene.

However, a team of police from the NPD who were patrolling the area saw them and gave chase. Seized from the two men were the victim’s cell phone and a fan knife about 7.5 inches long.

The NPD later charged them with robbery and illegal possession of a bladed weapon in the Navotas Prosecutor’s Office. Nathaniel R. Melican