Man nabbed in shoot-out over drug dispute linked to 10 robbery cases

A man who was wounded in a firefight and placed under arrest by the police has been tagged as a suspect in the robbery of at least 10 branches of a delivery and remittance firm in Metro Manila.

Charben Duarte, a 20-year-old resident of North Bay Boulevard, Navotas City, was taken to Capitol City Medical Center after he was seriously injured during a shoot-out with three other men allegedly triggered by a dispute over earnings from drug sales.

“The arrest of Duarte could potentially solve 10 incidents of robbery in Metro Manila. We have identified him as a suspect in the robbery of an LBC branch here in Caloocan and five others in Manila. We also believe he is behind LBC robbery incidents in Quezon City and Parañaque City,” Caloocan police chief Senior Supt. Bernard Tambaoan said in a telephone interview.

Duarte was linked to the heists after the police noticed his resemblance to the artist’s sketches of one of the two men who held up the LBC Express Delivery branch on Rizal Avenue, Caloocan City, on Jan. 7.

Although the establishment’s security cameras and security systems were turned off at the time of the robbery, witnesses were able to identify Duarte as one of the two men who took the branch’s earnings of P8,300.

When the Caloocan police sent a photo of the suspect to the Manila Police District, it linked him to several other heists involving the delivery and remittance firm.

“The Manila police also say that Duarte is behind the robbery of the LBC España Boulevard [branch] last year [while he has been linked to] four other cases. Meanwhile, we have sent information about Duarte to the Quezon City police who are determining if he is involved in four LBC heists and the Parañaque City police who is looking [into] his involvement in one LBC robbery [in the area],” Tambaoan said.

On top of the cases for which he would be charged, Duarte was also served with an arrest warrant by the Navotas City police in connection with a murder case.

At 5 a.m. on Monday, Duarte figured in a shoot-out with three men after he allegedly failed to turn over his earnings from peddling “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) in the streets.

When arrested by the police, he yielded an unlicensed .45-cal. pistol, a hand grenade, a sachet believed to contain shabu, drug paraphernalia and an identification card issued by a group called the Philippine International Anti-Graft Task Force.