SPD rounds up over 400 suspects in weekend raids

The Southern Police District (SPD) rounded up more than 400 persons during weekend’s “simultaneous anticriminality law enforcement operation.” The suspects filled up the grandstand of the SPD Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig on Saturday, March 24, 2018. (Photo from the SPD)

More than 400 persons were arrested in southern Metro Manila during its bloodless “simultaneous anticriminality law enforcement operation” (Sacleo), the successor of the infamous “one-time, big-time operation” (OTBT) over the weekend.

From 8 a.m. on Friday to Saturday, police stations under the Southern Police District managed to round up 433 live persons, 51 of which had warrants of arrest issued by different courts.

Among them were two of the most wanted criminals in the south: Arlo Labatajo, top 3 in Taguig, and Jayson Dizer in Pateros, who were both hunted down for robbery charges.

Antidrugs units of the Southern Police District, armed with arrest and search warrants, were also able to confiscate 115 grams of crystal meth (shabu) worth P500,000.

Police officers also recovered more than a hundred motorcycles without proper documents, some of which were allegedly stolen.

They seized from the suspects revolvers, hand grenades, submachine guns and their ammunition, along with some as marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

OTBT gained notoriety after at least 67 were killed in separate simultaneous operations in Metro Manila and in Bulacan province in August 2017.

Police officials defended their personnel, saying the suspects died because they fought back (“nanlaban”).

Sacleo is the new term for the OTBT, an all-out police operation against drug personalities, most wanted persons, and bearers of loose firearms, among others.

Supt. Jenny Tecson, SPD spokesperson, said Sacleo “gained positive results that favorably contributed to the decline of crimes within SPD.”

The SPD has jurisdiction over the Makati, Pateros, Taguig, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas and Muntinlupa.

“[Sacleo] is another example of how the PNP and its personnel maximizes its potential and exerts all efforts to reduce, if not totally stop criminality in SPD and the whole Metro Manila area,” Tecson said. /atm