2 QC ‘kotong’ cops held, disarmed

The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) disarmed and took two of its men into custody on charges that they arrested a call center agent on trumped-up drug charges, roughed him up and extorted P15,000 for his release.

PO1s George Verbo Jr. and Thomas Jansen Tulio were turned over to the QCPD headquarters Wednesday night by their superior, Fairview station commander Supt. Virgilio Fabian.

Their alleged cohort in the extortion, PO1 Benjie Tan, remained at large.

This was after the 31-year-old call center agent and his 19-year-old live-in partner filed a complaint against four plainclothesmen who allegedly arrested the man for alleged drug pushing Tuesday morning on Buick Street, Barangay South Fairview.

The lawmen, who were still unidentified when the complaint was filed, allegedly demanded P20,000 from the call center agent, but his partner was able to come up with only P15,000.

SPO1 Gregorio Maramag, the case investigator, said Verbo, Tulio and Tan were positively identified by the couple when they were shown photos and following a verification with the Fairview station.

QCPD director Senior Supt. Richard Albano said he had ordered Tulio and Verbo disarmed.

“I am warning policemen who are thinking of doing unlawful acts like this to get out of the force. We have no place for them,” the official said.

Also on Wednesday, the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit arrested the two alleged drug informants who had tagged the call center agent as a drug pusher and caused his arrest.

A team led by Insp. Elmer Monsalve caught up with Jerry Sora, 43, of Barangay Commonwealth, and Domingo Mendaro, 42 of Barangay Fairview around 7:30 p.m.

Records showed that Verbo entered the police service in 2003, while Tan and Tulio joined the force in 2010.