A Nigerian national believed involved in Automatic Teller Machine skimming was arrested during a police anti-illegal drugs operations in Angeles City while two persons were killed in an encounter with operatives in Bulacan Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Chief Supt. Amador Corpuz, police regional director of Central Luzon, identified the Nigerian suspect as Chinedu Umeanwe, also known as “Brook.” The 26-year-old Nigerian was nabbed by Police Drug Enforcement Unit and operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Team at Unit 6 Great Frontier Apartment, No. 925, Laguna St., Mount View, Barangay Balibago, Angeles City.
The Nigerian national, a programmer and website designer, yielded 4 pieces of small heat-sealed plastic sachets with suspected shabu, 3 pieces of P1,000.00 bill marked money, one unit of Dell laptop, one unit of magnetic stripe car reader and 21 pieces of VIP cards allegedly used in ATM skimming when collared by authorities.
Charges for Violation of Sec. 5 and 11 of RA 9165 were already filed against the suspect and coordination with the Bureau of Immigration is being done for verification of the suspect’s status as he may be involved in an international syndicate engaged in ATM card fraud.
The suspect, however, has yet to face charges for violation of RA 8484 (Anti-Fraud) pending the results of investigation conducted by the PNP Cybercrime Group.
In Bulacan, two unidentified persons were killed after they traded shots with police operatives at a checkpoint in Barangay Muzon, San Francisco del Monte, Bulacan at about 8 p.m. Friday.
Initial reports from the Sta. Maria, Bulacan Municipal Police Station said Regional Highway Patrol Unit-3, led by SP02 Tagle were on patrol at Muzon village when they chanced upon a Toyota Vios without license plate with two occupants.
Operatives conducting checkpoints at nearby Barangay Sta. Cruz spotted the vehicle and signaled them to pull over but the driver of the vehicle instead sped off.
Police personnel then alerted a team of operatives in another checkpoint at Barangay Sta. Clara to intercept the Toyota Vios. As they spotted the vehicle passing by their checkpoints, the vehicle occupants reportedly fired shots and executed a U-turn.
The operatives gave chase and exchanged gunfire, eventually killing the two unidentified suspects.