Cop arrested for alleged extortion in Zamboanga City

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ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — A police investigator who has been in the service for over a decade was arrested on Saturday, for allegedly extorting money from the families of suspects involved in cases he is handling.

Police Brigadier General Fynn Dongbo, director of the PNP’s Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG), said Corporal Alexis Castillo Garcia, of Barangay Putik and who worked as an investigator of Police Station 11, was arrested at Mayor Climaco Avenue during a joint operation by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Zamboanga police.

“In a sting operation, Garcia committed robbery with extortion. He has numerous complaints from families of suspects in the cases he handled for allegedly extorting money to guarantee that the cases (in which the suspects were involved) will be dismissed or so that the suspects will not be transferred to the Zamboanga City Jail,” Dongbo said.

Dongbo said the joint operation came after some complainants walked into his office to report that the police investigator had demanded P120,000 so that the complainant’s sister, earlier arrested for a drug offense, would not be transferred to the Zamboanga City Jail.

Recovered from Garcia during the operation were a bundle of boodle money, a cellular phone, a Glock 17 pistol, magazines, ammunition, a Philippine National Police (PNP) service ID, and a firearm license card.

Garcia joined the police force in February 2010. Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao