Credit card leads QC cops to burglars

Four burglary suspects and a security guard accused of selling firearms were arrested in separate operations in Quezon City over the weekend, according to police reports.

Four of the suspects identified as Elpidio Rafael, 44; Francisco Hilario, 23; Raul Ugtong, 55; and Michael Mariano, 48; were presented to reporters on Monday.

They were arrested on Saturday for breaking into a house in Barangay Quirino 2-B, Quezon City, on Oct. 3.

According to the police, Rafael was number seven on the drug watch list of the Anonas police station.

The house owner told the police that the burglars took cash amounting to P15,000, a laptop, a tablet, clothes, credit cards and vehicle registration documents.

Policemen managed to track down the suspects after they used a credit card owned by the house owner’s son at a gas station on Kamias Road corner Kasing-kasing Street.

On the same day of the robbery, the card was again used, this time at a store at Greenhills, San Juan City. Rafael, alias “Jojo Taruk,” was caught on a closed circuit television camera using the card to buy a watch.

On Saturday, the police arrested Rafael in his house where they also found a sachet of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) and a fan knife.

He later led the operatives to the other three suspects who yielded more sachets of shabu, drug paraphernalia and the wallet with the credit cards.

Senior Supt. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, Quezon City Police District (QCPD) chief, said that the police would investigate whether Rafael and his companions were involved in other burglaries in the city.

“Their arrest will certainly have a big effect on crime reduction and the information they provide will be good for our operations,” he told reporters.

On Friday, the QCPD also caught a security guard suspected of selling loose firearms based on a tip.

Carlos Sanchez Jr., 36, was arrested at the Bagbag Public Cemetery in Novaliches with a .38-caliber revolver and a 9-millimeter pistol.