Criminality on Colon up; police alarmed
TRS chief urges 3 police station chiefs to strengthen security and deployment in the area
Police are looking for six members of a notorious laglagbarya group
COLON St. is teeming with thieves and robbers, noted a police official.
Chief Insp. David Señor, Theft and Robbery Section chief of the Cebu City Police Office, said he received reports that a notorious laglag-barya group has been stealing from jeepney passengers that pass the street at night.
“Amo pa nang gitabangan kon asa na molungga na’ng mga buang (We are doing our best to locate the suspects),” he said in a press conference.
Because of this, the Cebu City Intelligence Branch urged three police station chiefs to strengthen security and deployment in the area, since several cases of theft and robbery have recently been reported there.
‘Perennial problem’
The entire stretch of Colon St. is under the areas of responsibility of Police Stations 1 (Pari-an), 3 (Waterfront) and 5 (Carbon), according to Santander.
“We are calling up the attention of these stations,” he said.
Santander revealed that they classified the country’s oldest road as one of the “hot seats for police presence” because street crimes there “have become a perennial problem.”
Meanwhile, Señor said they are hunting down six members of a notorious laglag-barya (coin-dropping) group that had just been released from jail af- ter posting bail.
“Nibalik sila’s Colon pero lahi ang modus, wa na sila atong laglag (They are back on Colon St., but with a different modus),” he said.
The group is reported- ly led by Edna Garcia.
Hunt
It and its members had been arrested in the previous months for allegedly stealing bags and other items from inside vans driven by women in the cities of Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Cebu.
Señor said they will intensify their hunt against these people and a separate group reportedly robbing jeepneys that traverse Escario St.
Santander said they are giving the three police stations until the end of the week to improve their patrol of Colon St.
“Tanawon nato kon naa ba gyuy (Let’s see if there are) changes” he said.