Police bust gang of robbers in Quezon
LUCENA CITY, Philippines–Police busted a notorious gang of robbers hours after the group held up a resort and robbed at least 14 of its guests, including a minor who was raped, and a residence in the Lucban-Tayabas area of Quezon, Police said Saturday.
Senior Supt. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Quezon police chief, said in a report released Saturday that pursuing policemen were able to catch six of the 10 robbers who broke into the Anturium Resort in Barangay May-it in Lucban at 12:05 a.m. on Friday and who later robbed a residence in the adjacent Tayabas City.
Ylagan said the robbers, who were armed with hand guns and rifles, entered the resort from the back, herded the owners and at least 14 guests forced out of their respective cottages, and divested them of their cash and valuables such as mobile phones, laptops, cameras and jewelry.
Investigators were still computing the total amount of the loot, he said.
Ylagan said two of the robbers raped a 13-year-old girl at the resort before fleeing on foot.
Chief Insp. Javier Baasis, Lucban police chief investigator, said the resort, located in a remote part of the village, has no security guards and closed-circuit television camera.
He said villagers told investigators the robbers left the area in a black KIA van (CTN 234) and two motorcycles.
According to Ylagan, police in nearby towns immediately set up checkpoints following the resort robbery, with the van being spotted around 6:15 a.m. Friday on the Maharlika Highway in Tayabas City.
The suspects sped away but three of them were caught by police following a car chase.
Initially arrested three men in the van, including the driver, who were identified as Jake Cerdenia Desembrana, 28, Marlon Gutierrez Fuentespina, 42, and Jesserey Enriquez Javines, 30.
The arrested suspects revealed the identities and location of three other gang members, which resulted in the arrest of Jay-Ar Macalalad Jr., Mark Anthony Francisco Gamason, 19, and his sister Eliza Francisco Gamason, 21, at the gang’s hideouts in Barangay Wakas in Tayabas and Isabang in Lucena City.
During the course of investigation, a resident of Tayabas City positively identified Desembrana, Fuentespina, Javines and Mark Anthony Gamason as among the group of armed robbers that broke into their home in Barangay Ibas at 1:30 a.m. Friday or shortly after robbing Anturium resort.
Ylagan said he dispatched a special unit to track down the four other members of the gang. He said the group was behind the series of robberies at gasoline stations in Quezon.
Police seized the van, two motorcycles, two handguns, two shotguns, assorted ammunitions, two plastic sachets that contained suspected shabu from the gang’s safehouses.
The lawmen also recovered a bag containing some of the stolen items from the resort guests.
The suspects were detained at the Tayabas police jail.
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