Holdup gang member nabbed in Marikina

A member of a robbery-holdup gang believed responsible for the killing of a taxi driver last Oct. 7 and eight other cases in Marikina City was arrested over the weekend in a police checkpoint in Marikina.

The suspect, Juanito Castillo, 53, was on board a taxi he grabbed earlier from Bernardo Esteves, 55, when cornered by responding policemen at the corner of J.P. Rizal and Kores Sts., in Barangay Nangka.

Senior Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan, Marikina City police chief said Castillo, of Talisay St., Burgos, Rodriguez, Rizal, yielded a caliber .22 revolver.

Gaerlan presented Castillo along with five other robbery and murder suspects to Marikina City Mayor Maria Lourdes Fernando.

Police said Castillo boarded a Romcat Taxi, with license plate TXA-355, in Greenland Subdivision in Barangay Nangka at about 8 p.m last Saturday.

A few minutes later, Castillo took out his handgun and announced a heist.

After taking Estevez’s earnings amounting to P900, Castillo ordered the driver out of the vehicle. He then took over the steering wheel and drove off.

The shocked Estevez, however, managed to call the police and report the robbery.

Gaerlan ordered the setting up of a police checkpoint at the corner of Rizal and Korea streets and nabbed Castillo, who yielded the revolver and Estevez’s earnings.

During tactical interrogation, Castillo admitted that he belongs to a robbery-holdup gang suspected to be behind the rash of robbery operations in Barangay Nangka.

He also admitted participation in the killing of taxi driver Victor Feliciano de los Santos in Greenheights Subdivision in Barangay Parang last Oct. 8. "Nanlaban kaya’t pinatay na namin (He resisted so we killed him)," Castillo said.

"We listed eight taxi robbery cases involving Castillo and his gang," said Gaerlan, who immediately dispatched a police team to get other members of the Rizal-based robbery gang. — Non Alquitran