PRO8 arrests rob gang leader

By RPCRD, Police Regional Office 8
March 8, 2013

CAMP SEC. KANGLEON, Palo, Leyte – After years in hiding, the leader of a notorious criminal gang behind the series of highway robberies in Samar the past years was arrested by the Special Operations Task Group - Samar (SOTG-Samar) Tracker Team in a manhunt operation in Metro Manila recently.

Jose Arvin Baculanlan, 31, a native of Basey, Samar, the leader of the Baculanlan robbery gang and listed as the second most wanted person in Samar was nabbed at the corner of 14th Avenue and Boni Serrano St. in Cubao, Quezon City around 4 p.m. on Monday.

“With his arrest, all the robberies his group had carried out are deemed solved and his gang considered neutralized,” said Police Chief Superintendent Elmer Ragadio Soria, Regional Director of Police Regional Office 8.

The Baculanlan gang was linked to a series of highway heists in Samar in the past years.

Soria informed that a civilian informant led SOTG-Tracker Team under Police Chief Inspector Marben Ordonia to the suspect’s whereabouts.

Baculanlan was arrested on the strength of arrest warrants issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 30 Judge Janet Cabalona and Judge Tarcelo Sabarre of same RTC for 2 counts of robbery and violation of Article 294 of the Revised Penal Code (robbery with violence or intimidation of person) with recommended bailbond of P100,000.00 for each case.

The members of the robbery gang the suspect led were arrested in past police operations while others “have lied low for a while,” said Soria, adding that PRO8 is continuously tracking their whereabouts.