POLICE warned the public anew to be vigilant against members of the Laglag-Barya gang who victimize jeepney passengers by dropping coins on the floor to divert the attention of their would-be theft victims.
A video of what looks like an actual theft on board a jeepney using this old modus operandi is circulating online.
The clip, which was uploaded to YouTube on June 12 by a certain Astig Tao, was viewed over 39,000 times as of 4:50 p.m. yesterday.
It shows male riders victimizing a female jeepney passenger by dropping loose coins on the floor and pickpocketing her wallet.
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Laglag Barya caught on camera!Credits to Tao Atapang for the video. https://www.facebook.com/tao.atapanghttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv4xZ5hh_A2H5Bg0V0DbJwwMga laglag barya gang sa 13C jeepney ng Cebu City nung June 12 lamang.LIKE Pilipinas
Posted by Pilipinas on Sunday, June 14, 2015
Supt. Romeo Santander, chief of the City Intelligence Branch (CIB), said the coin-drop was an old modus operandi of hustlers and pickpockets and that the video could have been scripted by gang members.
“We have our own interpretation of the video, that it seems like this group is challenging the police” Santander told reporters in Cebuano.
If the scene was real, he said, the one taking the video should have exposed the three men and warned the victims.
Santander said police will go after the three men caught on the video.
He said some drivers and conductors are in connivance with these thieves.
With the start of classes in June, police expect an increase in theft incidents.
The video was allegedly taken on the same day it was uploaded, inside a 13C jeepney plying the Talamban-downtown Cebu City route.
The video showed a woman seated in between three men in a jeepney. A few minutes later, one of the men dropped some coins near her feet.
Not aware of the modus operandi, she moved closer to the two other men on her right.
The man seated on her right side was holding a black backpack which was used as a cover to hide the movement of his hand as he reached for the woman’s bag and took her wallet.The third man appeared to be a lookout.