By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
BACOLOD City – The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) is preparing charges against a junkshop for allegedly accepting and storing stolen telecommunication batteries worth P15.1 million on Thursday, June 29.
BCPO director Police Colonel Noel Aliño said yesterday afternoon they recovered 15 telco batteries worth P100,000 each.
He also named three suspects – 30-year-old Erwin Aribato, 26-year-old Romely Quiatchon and 30-year-old Joseph Villanueva, all residents of Barangay Banago.
Aliño said they received a tip-off from the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NOrPPO) and the Mabinay Municipal Police Station that the suspects were transporting stolen batteries to Bacolod City.
The information they received eventually led to the arrest of the suspects on Mabini Street in Barangay 25 after the cops tracked down a black van used to transport the stolen goods to JLC junkshop.
When the police raided the junkshop, they confiscated another 136 pieces of telco batteries.
The batteries were later shown to representatives of both Globe Telecom and SMART Communications and they confirmed they owned the batteries.
Aliño added that when police entered the junkshop, its workers immediately fled.
The BCPO director further said he issued a recommendation to the city government to revoke the junkshop’s business permit and close it down.
As of this writing, police were investigating if the three suspects are operating as an organized crime group.
The suspects were turned over to the Mabinay Municipal Police Station./PN
