BI raid nets banned items
Bureau of Immigration officials raided the agency’s Warden Facility in Taguig City Tuesday after receiving intelligence reports on the proliferation of prohibited items inside.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said numerous banned items were confiscated during the raid. Seized items included mobile phones, portable air conditioning units, portable WiFi, sharp and pointed tools, knives, steel tubes, scissors, laptops, digital versatile disc players, deck of cards, and lighters.
“Past administrations used to be lenient in allowing the detainees to use gadgets, because the BIWF is a detention facility for those to be deported, and not a jail,” said Morente.
The BI chief warned the detainees that more shakedowns will continue as the bureau investigates how the prohibited items made its way inside.
The BIWF serves as the detention center for foreigners who are undergoing deportation proceedings and currently houses 236 aliens up for deportation. (Jun Ramirez)
Man falls to death in Ermita
A Chinese man fell to his death from the ninth floor of a hotel in Ermita, Manila to an adjacent church Thursday morning.
The victim, identified as Xia Xiaocheng, 32, was found sprawled on his back and drenched in his own blood at the chilling deck on the fifth level of The Cathedral of Praises on General Luna St.
Bystanders said that they last saw the victim at the swimming pool area of the hotel which is just beside the above-mentioned church.
The Manila Police District and the Scene-of-the-Crime Operatives arrived in the area at about 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
The severely broken body of Xia was recovered a few minutes before noon and brought to Archangel Funeral Homes in Sampaloc, Manila.
Further investigation is underway to determine the real cause of the incident. (Ria Fernandez with a report from Michelle Guillang)
Guns, shabu seized in raid
Police seized unlicensed firearms, ammunition, and several sachets of suspected shabu from a 35-year-old man during a raid in Pasig City Tuesday.
The Eastern Police District identified the suspect as Jeffrey Javier of Bayambang, Pangasinan.
The Special Operations and Intelligence Units of the EPD and Pasig police raided a house where Javier was staying on A. Policarpio St. in Barangay San Joaquin around 6:35 p.m. based on a warrant issued by Judge Danilo S. Cruz of the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 152.
Police seized two unlicensed firearms – Colt MK IV handgun and a caliber .45 pistol with a magazine loaded with seven bullets – and 30 sachets of shabu with an estimated street value of R16,000 from the suspect, a street level drug pusher in Barangay Ususan, Taguig City.
Javier faces charges of illegal possession of firearms and violating the election gun ban and Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (Jhon Aldrin Casinas)
2 car thieves, 2 robbers killed
Two suspected members of the Basag Kotse Gang and two alleged robbers were killed in separate encounters with policemen while trying to escape and resist arrest on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning in Quezon City.
Investigators of the Quezon City Police District said that all the slain suspects who have yet to be identified died on the spot due to multiple bullet wounds.
The two Basag Kotse Gang members, described to be in their early 30s with tattoos on their bodies, were killed shortly after they ransacked a car parked in a fastfood restaurant on Commonwealth Ave. in Barangay San Vicente, UP Bliss around 8 p.m. Wednesday.
According to complainant Lorence Cordero, he left his car locked at the parking area to buy food in the restaurant. He returned to his car and discovered that the window of the front passenger seat was broken and his MacBook Air laptop valued at P75,000 was already missing.
Personnel of the QCPD Special Operations Unit who happened to be in the restaurant noticed the victim reporting to authorities, prompting them to help.
The two suspected robbers died five hours later at around 1:45 a.m. in a gunfight with personnel of QCPD Station 6 (Batasan) while resisting arrest after they were caught breaking the lock of a convenience store in Barangay Holy Spirit. (Alexandria Dennise San Juan)
