The leader of a robbery gang linked to at least six house burglaries since April has been arrested in Quezon City.
According to Quezon City Police District director Senior Supt. Richard Albano, 23-year-old Jonathan Cuya was picked up in his house in Barangay Balingasa after policemen from the anticar theft unit spotted a car stolen from one of the gang’s victims.
The police placed the vehicle under surveillance and arrested Cuya when he tried to drive off with it on Wednesday night.
Investigators discovered that the gang—whose modus operandi involves breaking into houses and tying up their victims—was involved in six robberies between April to June. Five of the houses are in Quezon City while the sixth is in Caloocan City.
“The victims [in these cases] positively identified Cuya,” Albano said in a press conference Friday.
One of the gang’s victims, Edward Choy, a tutor, was killed during the break-in at his house in Quezon City on May 16.
Another victim also tagged Cuya as one of the robbers who took around P1 million in cash and jewelry from his house on June 18.
The police also said that the gang leader and four of his men broke into a house in Caloocan City on May 19. They tied up the occupants before they drove off with a vault in the family’s car.
Albano said operatives were still looking for the other gang members identified as Raymond David, 23; Rodolfo Lalata, 23; Gino Juanchon, 26; Manolio Manguiddong, 46; and three others known only as Ped, Leo and Eddie.