SANTIAGO CITY, Isabela – Police arrested on Sunday the alleged leader of a criminal group selling fake gold and palladium bars during an entrapment operation here.
Police said the suspect, Rico Callueng, 56, tagged as leader of the “Rico Callueng Gang”, was nabbed along with his six cohorts.
The operation against the gang leader was launched by the Criminal Detection and Investigation Group (CIDG) Regional Field Unit 2 (RFU2) and Police Regional Office 2 (PRO2) units.
Arrested along with Callueng were Apolinario Basanes, 55; Rodolfo Pascua, 66; Jayson Pascual, 30; Angel Lacson, 49; Edelina Patio, 50; and Arnold Villasis, 42.
Based on the report sent to PRO2 director Brig. Gen. Crizaldo O Nieves, the cops conducted an entrapment operation at NC parking lot in Villasis based on the complaint of Engr. Felido C. Bautista who claimed that the group sold him a Palladium bar for P10,000,000, which he later found out as fake.
Police seized from the suspects an Isuzu MUX, a white Mitsubishi Strada pickup (NAV 9803), a unit gray Mitsubishi Montero Sports, bundles of boodle money with two genuine P1,000 bills representing the P10 million entrapment money.
Also confiscated from them were a .45-caliber pistol, a magazine and six bullets for caliber .45, two cellphones, and two bars of fake Palladium weighing 217 kilograms each.
The arrested suspects were booked at the Santiago CIDG Field Unit 2 for further investigation and disposition. (Liezle Basa Inigo)
