TALK WITH CHIEF. Chief Supt. Ronald Santos fields questions from media at the Talk Widus forum of the Pampanga Press Club held every first Wednesday at Widus Hotel and Casino. Photo by Bong Lacson
ANGELES CITY— Central Luzon police director Chief Supt. Ronald Santos said he has initiated dismissal proceedings and filed a non-bailable case of robbery in band against two policemen who were caught red-handed extorting a huge amount from a Swiss tourist here last Jan. 27.
In a press briefing at the Widus Hotel and Casino in Clark Freeport, Santos said suspects PO3 Manachem Baking and PO2 Ricardo Cabrera Jr. of the Angeles police have remained behind bars after they were charged with “an airtight case” that would not allow them temporary freedom.
Santos said the police chief of this city vowed to build up an “airtight case” against two of his policemen who werecaught blackmailing and extorting P500,000 from a Swedish tourist.
Baking and Cabrera were arrested by agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in a sting operation as they received the second payment of P280,000 of the total P500,000 they demanded from tourist GoranSmedjer, 64, in Barangay Malabanias here.
The two cops allegedly blackmailed Smedjer after the tourist invited two young women to his apartment in Malabanias earlier on Jan. 25. After a few minutes, an elderly woman, in the company of Baking and Cabrera, barged into his apartment and angrily claimed to be the mother of one of the young women.
It is not clear whether the young women were minors. The CIDG report said the two cops then demanded P500,000 from Smedjer in exchange for freedom from any charges that could be filed by the alleged mother. Smedger, however, sought the help at the CIDG who laid out a sting operation that led to the arrest of Baking and Cabrera who had an M16 rifle, a .9 MM and .45 pistols, a .22 revolver and , a bullet proof vest.
Santos said he is now coordinating with the CIDG and the National Bureau of Investigation in identifying more “bad eggs” in the police force in his region, as he vowed to deal with them “with the full force of the law.”
