ILOILO City – A man accused of stealing a cell phone from the counter of a pharmacy in Jaro district here was apprehended on Friday morning, February 7.
The suspect identified as Roberto Estrella Salon, 50, a resident of Barangay Hechanova, La Paz district, was caught after being recognized from the closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) footage of the pharmacy.
According to Police Captain Gimel Acuesta, chief of Police Station 9, Salon was spotted by security personnel inside a mall in La Paz while playing Bingo. The guards, who had seen the viral video of the suspect stealing the cell phone, immediately informed the police, leading to his arrest.
Salon admitted to the police that he had taken the cellphone to Sta. Barbara, Iloilo.
As of this writing, officers of the Police Station 9 were working on recovering the stolen item.
Further background checks on Salon revealed that he had prior arrests, including a drug buy-bust operation in 2018 and a theft case in 2017.
The suspect was detained at Police Station 9./PN
