12 NCRPO cops charged for meddling in Bulacan drug arrest

CITY OF MALOLOS, Philippines—The Central Luzon police on Friday charged 12 policemen assigned to the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) for obstruction of justice after they allegedly intervened in the arrest of two men for possessing 10 kilos of suspected shabu (methampethamine hydrochloride) in Baliwag town last Tuesday.

The complaint was filed at the Bulacan Prosecutors Office, said Senior Supt. Benjamin Hulipas, Central Luzon deputy police director who heads a newly formed investigating committee that is looking into a standoff between Baliwag police and the NCRPO men who tried to prevent the arrest of Michael Lim and Rodel De Borja.

READ: Police task force probing 12 NCRPO men who interfered in Bulacan drug bust

The NCRPO claimed that the two men caught at a Baliwag checkpoint were civilian assets working on an undisclosed NCRPO drug operation. The two men were in a vehicle that contained suspected narcotics worth P50 million.

Hulipas said the committee was formed to determine whether the operations of the NCRPO policemen were legitimate, owing to the fact that the Manila office had not coordinated their activities with the Central Luzon police office.

In a press conference on Thursday at Camp Alejo Santos, Hulipas said Lim and de Borja were caught red handed with contraband at a police checkpoint at 9 p.m. last Tuesday along Donya Remedios Trinidad Highway.

The checkpoint was manned by police officers led by Supt. Froilan Uy, Baliwag chief of police, who acted on information from the Central Luzon police that a vehicle under surveillance was passing through the town.

Uy said they detained the vehicle, but five vehicles arrived containing the 12 Manila policemen, who vouched for Lim and de Borja.

The Bulacan police seized the shabu but had released Lim and De Borja. RAM