Four persons, including two Bangladeshi businessmen and a Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agent, were arrested while pulling a robbery inside a garments warehouse in Pasay City Saturday afternoon, police reported yesterday.
Pasay police identified those arrested as Mohammad Anowar Hossain, 38, of Malate, Manila; Kamal Hossan, 38, of Gagalangin, Tondo, both Bangladeshi businessmen; Lawrence Anthony Daliscon, 33, a PDEA intelligence officer 2, of Quezon City; and Jelyn Parraguirre, 28, of Makati City.
SPO4 Allan Valdez, case investigator, said the four suspects were apprehended by members of Libertad Police Community Precinct (PCP) inside a garments warehouse on Taft Avenue corner Pilapil Stree around 5 p.m. Saturday.
Based on police report, the suspects forcibly entered the factory around 4:10 p.m. Saturday and held up Mostafizur Rahman, 34, a Bangladeshi warehouse caretaker, Joey Mondin and John Mark Gallego, both helpers, inside the establishment.
“The four suspects, armed with guns and knives, entered the factory and locked us up. They took our cellphones and two boxes of stocks,” said Rahman through a translator.
Valdez said Hossan and Daliscon were armed a .45-caliber pistols while Hossain and Parraguirre had knives.
However, another Bangladeshi, who requested anonymity, managed to sneak out of the factory and asked for police assistance from the nearby Libertad PCP, leading to the arrest of the suspects.
Valdez said the suspects were about to flee with their loot on board a while Toyota Fortuner (ABH 2030) when the police swooped down the warehouse.
Police foiled the robbery and seized Daliscon and Hossan’s guns. Daliscon managed to present a letter order as a PDEA agent, giving him an authority to carry the firearm.
Also recovered from them were the two stocks worth p300,000.
When authorities searched the vehicle, they found a jungle bolo, two kitchen knives, a butcher knife, assorted documents, and two lighters.
Rahman, Mondin, and Gallego also said the four suspects were the very same persons who held them up last Friday, July 22, and carted away another three boxes of stocks. A total of p15 million worth of garments were taken away by the four suspects from the factory.
It was learned that the suspects also had a kidnapping case at the Manila Police District.
Manila police investigators said Hossain and Hossan were also behind the kidnapping of their fellow Bangladeshi Tanim Ahmad, 32, of Quiapo.
Ahmad was freed on Saturday night after paying the suspects’ group p300,000 ransom, police said.
The suspects are now detained at the Pasay City Jail while charges for two counts of robbery in band aggravated with the use of firearms and bladed weapons are being prepared against them.
Police said the Bangladeshi suspects will also be charged with kidnapping with ransom and physical injuries.
(with reports from Betheena Kae Unite) (MARTIN A. SADONGDONG)