Police arrest one of the suspects in the JCentre Mall robbery in Mandaue City at the Polambato Wharf in Bogo City, Cebu at past 11 p.m. of October 19, 2019.| Photo courtesy of Bogo Police and Philippine Coast Guard
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Bogo City Police confirmed that there were four suspects killed including the alleged leader of the robbery group while five others were arrested after the hot pursuit operation conducted together with the Regional Special Operations Task Group in Central Visayas (RSOTG-7) to capture the men involved in the robbery inside Jcentre Mall in Mandaue City, at around 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 19, 2019.
Read more: Six armed men staged daring mall heist, carted away jewelry, cash; one security guard hurt
Police Major Emelie Santos, Bogo City police chief, told reporters on Sunday afternoon October 20, 2019, that they first caught four suspects inside a biege Toyota Innova that was about to board a vessel going to Masbate at about 11 p.m. of October 19, 2019.
Read more: In Photos: Police kill 3, arrest 4 suspects in Mandaue mall robbery
These suspects were identified as Roel Nano Sumingit, 35, from Tangub City, Misamis Occidental; Jun Batanguso Candelaria, 38, from Naga City, Bicol; Julivy Lumingkit Quirante, 43, Tangub City, Misamis Occidental; Arnel Sumingit Cimafranca, 38, from Tangub City, Misamis Occidental.
Police on port duty, Police Staff Sergeant Jojit Potot, had already suspected that they might be the robbers after they were alerted by the Mandaue City Police Office of the robbery at the mall.
The five suspects arrested in Bogo City are readied for transport from Bogo City to Mandaue City at past 2 p.m. of October 20, 2019. | Alven Marie A. Timtim
Potot alerted the Bogo City Police Station and the Philippine Coast Guard, leading to the arrest of the suspects.
Santos said that they were confident that they had the right persons since suspect Cimafranca, who was injured that time, was already spotted.
The four arrested suspects later told police that they had three other cohorts inside the vessel heading to Masbate.
The police and Coast Guard inspected the vessel leading to the arrest of three more suspects identified as Kevin Plaza Andales, 25, from Barangay Lorenzotan, Tangub City, Misamis Occidental; Wilfredo Suerte Enguito, 47, and Phillip Faburada, from Tondo, Manila.
The seven were loaded inside a police vehicle to be transported to the Bogo Police Station detention cell.
However, as they were being transported, Andales, Enguito, and Faburada allegedly tried to grab the firearms of the personnel of the Regional Special Operations Task Group in Central Visayas (RSOTG-7) escorting them.
These forced the RSOTG-7 personnel to shoot the three suspects.
Read more: 3 suspects in Mandaue mall heist killed, 4 others arrested in Bogo City
The three wounded suspects were rushed to the hospital but were declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.
The four other suspects were brought to the Bogo City Police Station.
The biege Innova that the four suspects of the JCentre Mall robbery used to travel to Masbate is parked at the Bogo Police Station parking lot. | Alven Marie A. Timtim
Meanwhile, another suspect was arrested at a checkpoint in Sogod town.
This was at around 1 a.m. of October 20, 2019, when police officers manning a checkpoint flagged down a person on a motorcycle.
Police identified the man as James Anthony Gomez, 47, from Ozamis City, Misamis Occidental.
Upon further interrogation, Gomez told authorities that he was about to fetch a certain “Glen” in Polambato wharf.
When police inspected Gomez license, they informed him that he was under arrest and they escorted him to the wharf to also arrest this certain “Glen” that Gomez was fetching from the wharf.
But when police arrived at the wharf together with Gomez, the man he was about to fetch fired at the approaching police officers.
The police officers fired back killing “Glen,” who was later identified as Glen Gilberto Tairos, 47, of Barangay Lawaan, Talisay City, Cebu.
Tairos was later identified by police as allegedly the leader of the robbery group.
Despite the arrest of the nine suspects, no jewelry were recovered from the suspects.
However, police recovered P345,000 cash, a .38 caliber revolver, two chisels, and two glass cutters from them./dbs