COP CAUGHT IN BRIBE TRAP

Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 yesterday
arrested a Cebu City policeman in the act of receiving money from the
wife of a man caught hours earlier allegedly for drug peddling.

PO2 Jaime de la Cruz of the Cebu City Police Office's Security Service
Group (SSG) was taken into custody while having lunch at a fastfood
outlet on Gorordo Ave.

The place was meters away from the CCPO headquarters inside Camp
Sotero Cabahug.

SSG Chief Mariano Natu-el said they did not have an operation
scheduled against the drug suspect yesterday dawn.

Cebu City Councilor Augustus Pe Jr., chairman of the committee on
dangerous drugs, said he recommended to Mayor Tomas Osmena that de la
Cruz be removed from CCPO.

Before the policeman was assigned to an outpost in Mabini, a mountain
barangay, Natu-el said de la Cruz served as a bodyguard of an elected
Cebu City official.

De la Cruz, however, returned to his mother unit after figuring in a
motorcycle accident.

With de la Cruz at the time of his arrest was 31-year-old Ariel
Escobido of Magsaysay St., Barangay Suba, the alleged drug peddler.

He was also with 15-year-old boy identified as "Willy."

Willy, according to NBI agent Gregorio Tomagan, hails from Talisay
City. De la Cruz reportedly picked him up Monday night and offered to
pay him P500 if he buys shabu for him in Barangay Pasil.

NBI 7 Director Medardo de Lemos, a lawyer, said they are preparing
extortion charges against the policeman for allegedly asking for as
much as P100,000 for the release of Escobido.

Separate charges for violations of the anti-graft law will also be
filed before the Office of the Ombudsman for the Military and other
law enforcement offices.

Furthermore, a separate complaint for violations of Republic Act 7610,
the Anti-Child Abuse Law, will also be lodged against the police.

Section 10(e) of the law penalizes the recruitment and use of children
as "middlemen in drug trafficking or pushing" and any other "illegal
activities" and provides a penalty of up to 30 years.

He will also be charged with violations of RA 9165 after he came out
positive in a standard drug test the NBI subjects all its detainees
to.

Escobido, in an interview with Agent Greg Algoso at the NBI
headquarters, said he was taken into custody past 1 a.m. yesterday.

He said a boy, later identified to be Willy, went to his house and
told him somebody wanted to buy over P1,000 worth of shabu.

He denied being a supplier of shabu as he only serves as a
runner.

Ariel said he went out and got the shabu for Willy, who then brought
him to de la Cruz. To his surprise, de la Cruz, who was with two other
unidentified individuals, arrested him and placed him inside a blue
four-door car and drove away.

He said they went by car to the CCPO headquarters. However, they
didn't go down. They merely parked for a couple of minutes and then
drove away to an eatery and then to a motel at the North Reclamation
Area.

In a separate interview, Charito, Escobido's 48-year-old mother, said
she did not know what had happened to Ariel until a man who identified
himself as a policeman came to their house past 1 a.m. and told her
that her son had been arrested.

The man, she said, left a cellular phone number and instructions that
the party on the other end should be called immediately.

Charito said she called the number and received instructions go to the
CCPO headquarters. However, she was told not to go inside. She was to
call the number again as soon as she was at the gate.

She finally got to the CCPO headquarters about 4 a.m. and spoke in
person with de la Cruz,. who told her that Ariel was arrested for drug
peddling.

She narrated how de la Cruz told her to raise P100,000 to prevent the
filing of a peddling case. She was told that a peddling charge is
non-bailable.

Charito negotiated for a lesser amount and got the policeman to agree
to P40,000 that was to be paid before 10 a.m. yesterday.

"I talked it over with Ariel's wife and decided to go to the NBI for
help," she said in Cebuano.

De Lemos, in an interview, said they organized an entrapment. They
waited for the policeman to call again for details like where he
wanted the payment to be made.

Escobido placed the call.

"They woke me up and gave me a cell phone to call my mother. They told
me to ask her how much they've raised and when she told me that
they've only managed P30,000, the policeman said that amount is
acceptable because he felt sorry for all of us," Escobido said in Cebuano.

The policeman then gave instructions that the drop be made at the
Jollibee outlet near the CCPO headquarters at noon.

NBI agents immediately went to Jollibee and, blending in with the
other customers, waited for the de la Cruz to arrive.

De la Cruz came with Ariel and Willy in tow and sat at a table to wait
for Charito to arrive with the money.

It was Escobido's common-law-wife, Corazon, who came with the money
placed inside an envelope.

"He (de la Cruz) told my wife to put the money on the table on top of
a newspaper and to wait while he counts the money with me and Willy
inside the comfort room. On our way there, the NBI agents approached
and placed him under arrest," Escobido narrated.