Public urged to be vigilant as Cebu cops move to prevent possible entry of ‘big’ crime group to Cebu

Senior Superintendent Manuel Abrugena | Benjie Talisic

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) is preparing for the possible entry of a ‘notorious and big drug and crime group’ to Cebu, and they encourage the community to be vigilant as well.

Senior Superintendent Manuel Abrugena, CPPO director,  said that they had received reports that a crime group outside Central Visayas had been planning a ‘bigger’ operation in the country, although it might not be necessarily in Cebu.

Abrugena said that they were in “Code Blue,” which would mean that they were preparing to pre-empt the entry of the unnamed group into the province of Cebu since the group’s pattern had involved moving from one province to another.

Abrugena said that this crime group had begun to rob business establishments in the Visayas and Mindanao to gather enough funds for this ‘big operation.’

It is not clear to the police if this big operation is connected to the upcoming May 13 midterm elections.

The nature of this crime operation was not revealed by Abrugena to the media, but he said that it might be connected to drugs and other forms of criminality.

“There are some indicators na nandito sila (in Cebu). We cannot give any details kung ano ang pinaghahandaan nila,” said Abrugena.

With this, Abrugena encouraged the public to be vigilant to new people arriving in their localities, renting spaces, and paying huge amounts in cash.

“Ireport lang sa amin kapag may suspicious na mga tao or grupo na pumasok sa localities nila,” said Abrugena.

Abrugena assured the public that the CPPO is ready for the entry of this crime group in Cebu.| dbs