J Centre Mall robbers, Ozamis Group, linked to Liloan, Consolacion robberies

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 the Bogo Police Station and Philippine Coast Guard

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police have linked the slain alleged leader of the J Centre Mall robbers to several robberies inside and outside Cebu in the past two years.

Police Colonel Jonathan Abella, Mandaue City Police Office chief, said that 47-year-old DC Glen Gilberto Tairos, who was killed in a shootout with police officers in Polambato Port in Bogo City at past 1 a.m. on October 20, 2019, had been linked to robbery cases in Liloan, Consolacion and Bacolod City.

Abella said that Tairos and the robbery group he led, the Ozamis Group, had been linked to the Palawan Pawnshop robbery last February 4, 2019 in Sitio Kapulay, Barangay Tayud, Liloan town in northern Cebu.

Five men, two of them armed with guns, stole P40,000 from Palawan outlet.

Read more: Police eye inside job angle in Liloan pawnshop robbery

Police Major Danilo Colipano, Liloan Police Station chief, said in his report to Abella that Tairos and his group were positively identified by the police as the one responsible for that robbery.

Colipano said that they could not catch and arrest Tairos because he had been transferring from one residence to another.

He said that it was only two months ago that Tairos started renting an apartment unit in Tayud, Liloan town.

But it was only on Sunday, Colipano said that they found out about his address in Tayud.

Read more: Neighbor of J Centre Mall rob group’s ‘leader’ seeks Labella’s help

Aside from the incident in Liloan, Tairos was also tagged in the series of robbery cases in Consolacion last year.

Colipano said that the name of Tairos also resurfaced during the investigation.

Colipano said  that based on the information they had gathered, Tairos was originally from Mindanao who later consolidated his influence in Cebu and became the Ozamis robbery group leader.

He also confirmed that the suspects had also been linked to robbery cases in Bacolod.

Read more: Rob group leader among four killed; five others arrested in Bogo, Sogod

Tairos was killed in a shootout with police officers in Polambato Port in Bogo City at 1 a.m. on Sunday, October 20, 2019 or a few hours after they robbed pawnshops inside the J Centre Mall in Mandaue City. He was the fourth person of the Ozamis Group that was killed in Bogo City during the police operations against the mall robbers.

Earlier at past 11 p.m. on Saturday, October 20, three of his men were killed after they tried to grab the firearms of the police officers escorting them. The three were among four other suspects, who were arrested at the Polambato Port and were being transported to the to the Bogo Police Station.

Another member of the group was arrested in Sogod town.

Meanwhile,  Police Colonel Roderick Mariano, Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) chief, said that they were also in communication with the Ozamis police force to verify the identity of Tairos./dbs