Wanted car theft gang leader falls

The police finally caught up with one of the most wanted men in the metropolis, ending a manhunt that started earlier this year.

Ronald Gomez Santiago, also known as Onad, 32, was  arrested at 3 a.m. Sunday inside a four-door apartment in Maragondon, Cavite, with two other men identified as Aldrick Yala Perez, 31 and Joseph Lagrimas Hilario, 28.

According to the police, Santiago is the leader of the notorious Onad car theft and robbery group. Fifteen warrants have been issued for his arrest for his involvement in at least 41 criminal cases which range from robbery and illegal drugs to car theft and murder, they added.

“He is facing charges in Las Piñas, Makati, Pasay and Parañaque courts and most of them are [for] robbery cases,” Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, chief of the Southern Police District, told the Inquirer.

Estipona said that Santiago was able to evade prolonged detention because most of the cases filed against him were for bailable offenses.

His luck, however, ran out on Sunday.

The 10-man team from the Parañaque police which raided his Cavite house was armed with an arrest warrant issued by Judge Marjorie T. Uyengco-Nolasco of the Batangas Regional Trial Court in May for a case of double-murder, a nonbailable offense.

Seized from the house were at least seven types of firearms and ammunition.

“The suspects had several firearms but we caught them by surprise,” said Senior Superintendent Billy Beltran, Parañaque police chief, adding that at the time of the raid, Santiago and his cohorts “were sleeping.”

Estipona said the local police were able to track down Santiago after a robbery in a residential area in Parañaque on April 4 this year. Santiago was captured by a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera.

He added that in the course of their investigation, they learned that Perez, who they had identified through the footage taken by the CCTV, and his cohorts were being supervised by Santiago.

By tracking the calls on Perez’s cell phone as well as tips from their informants, the police finally found Santiago.

“This is a breakthrough. Santiago is the leader of one of the big groups in Metro Manila operating, [a group much more notorious than that of] the Dominguez brothers,” Beltran said.

Raymond and Roger Dominguez, leaders of another car theft group, are behind bars for the killing of car dealers Venson Evangelista and Emerson Lozano in January last year.