Three members of a suspected “Salisi Gang” were arrested yesterday at a convenience store in barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City.
The car they were using was identified as the getaway vehicle used to steal the bag of a woman dinning in a mall restaurant in Mandaue City an hour earlier.
Jerry Paco, boyfriend of the victim Roselyn Broñola, 21, said he noticed two women and two men hurriedly leave the mall.
One woman was seen bringing Broñola’s bag. The four boarded a silver Toyota RAV 4.
Paco tried to run after the four but the vehicle sped away. He took down the plate number, XKZ 933, and reported the matter to the police.
After an alarm was flashed with the plate number to all police stations, the vehicle was spotted less than an hour later near a store in front of Mactan Doctor’s Hospital by a Lapu-Lapu City Police mobile team.
Mandaue City police went to the area and arrested the suspects — Edgar Manalo, 59, of San Juan City, Metro Manila; Pinky Mendez, 53, of Tondo, Manila and Carmencita Jaca, 47, of Pasil, Cebu City.
They are all temporarily residing in sitio Mahayahay, barangay Bankal, Lapu-Lapu City.
Police recovered the woman’s stolen bag from Jaca.
Their two companions identified only as Jun and Landring eluded arrest.
Lapu-Lapu City police identified them as the same suspects who stole bags of two Koreans inside a posh hotel in the city last Oct. 10. The suspects were linked to a series of theft cases in malls in Lapu-Lapu City.