Cop robbed by motorcycle-riding gunmen

Motorcycle-riding gunmen shot and wounded an off-duty Manila policeman after robbing him of more than P30,000 worth of jewelry and cash.

PO1 Benjamin Oh, assigned with the Smokey Mountain police community precinct under the Manila Police District (MPD) Juan Luna, Tondo station 1, sustained a gunshot wound in the thigh and is still undergoing treatment at the Mary Johnston Hospital.

The three motorcycle-riding  suspects, aboard two motorcycles, sped away with the loot and are now the subject of police follow-up operations.

MPD station 1 commander Supt. Rolando Tumalad told the Inquirer that robbery was the primary motive behind the attack on Oh, who was in plainclothes. Oh was aboard his motorcycle and was on his way to a grocery in the Tayuman area when he was waylaid.

Tumalad said the incident happened at around 5:15 p.m., Friday, along Honorio Lopez Boulevard near Juan Luna Street in Tondo.

Prior to the robbery, Oh had just come from Younger Street in Balut, Tondo and was on his way to Tayuman.   But upon reaching a gasoline station along Honorio Lopez Boulevard, three men on board two motorcycles blocked his path.

Brandishing .45 caliber pistols, one of the men grabbed Oh’s P30,000 gold necklace before ordering him to get off his motorbike and to lie face down on the ground.

The suspects frisked him and took his wallet containing P3,000 cash and assorted identification cards.  Before fleeing on their motorcycles, one of the robbers shot the policeman in the thigh.

As soon as the robbers were gone, the wounded Oh managed to take himself to the Tondo Medical Center for treatment. He was later transferred to the Mary Johnston Hospital.

Tumalad told the Inquirer that the robbers might have preyed on Oh because of the gold necklace he wore. “They (suspects) probably did not know he is a policeman and might have been drawn to him by the necklace,” he pointed out.

Tumalad tapped members of the station’s different units to conduct follow-up operations for the identification and arrest of the suspects in the robbery.