2 cops ‘kidnap’ trike driver for P20K

Two policemen reporting to different units were arrested by their colleagues Thursday night for allegedly abducting a tricycle driver in Quezon City and demanding P20,000 in exchange for his release.

PO1 Edwin Soriano and PO2 Manuel Fuentes are facing charges for kidnapping Sherwin Desear at his home in Murphy, Cubao, around 9 a.m. of July 2. Soriano reports to the Manila Police District’s (MPD) Sta. Ana station while Fuentes is under the Personnel Holding Admin Office at Camp Crame.

The MPD case investigator, PO2 Randolf Pellesco, said Fuentes was known to Desear as he was a usual passenger in the latter’s tricycle.

According to the complainant, he was doing household chores that morning when the two policemen forced him out of his home and into a gray Toyota Revo that later brought them to Camp Karingal, the headquarters of the Quezon City Police District.

From there, the officers phoned Desear’s 26-year-old cousin, Ryan, to demand P20,000. They then took Desear to a house in Commonwealth, Quezon City, believed to be that of Fuentes’ mother.

They later took Desear to Abad Santos General Hospital, telling him that he must undergo medical examination for they would use the results to support the drug possession and peddling charges they would file against him.

From the hospital, Desear was moved to a shanty on Rivera Street, Tondo. According to Pellesco, Desear managed to escape and reported his captors to the MPD Moriones station. A responding team later tracked down Soriano and Fuentes.

Soriano also faces charges for illegal possession of firearms after he yielded an unlicensed .38-cal. revolver, Pellesco said.