Bogus cop faces gun raps

Police are set to charge a fake cop with illegal possession of firearms on Tuesday after he was arrested Friday for driving on the wrong side of the street in Pasig City.

Aside from yielding a .45 caliber pistol with an expired permit, Esmeraldo de Leon was caught driving a black Nissan Sentra with fake license plates.

Pasig City police chief Senior Superintendent Francisco Uyami Jr. said they also recovered from De Leon an identification card of a certain SPO3 Abo from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and another from the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), also in Abo’s name.

“We are still in the process of verifying the documents of the recovered vehicle with the LTO (Land Transportation Office) and with the CIDG and Meralco,” said Uyami.

Eastern Police District (EPD) director Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz said a background investigation on De Leon showed that “he regularly fires his gun in the air during a simple misunderstanding with his neighbors” in Barangay Santolan.

De Leon was driving his black Nissan Sentra (UDG-223) on the wrong side of Amang Rodriguez Avenue, when a police team headed by Uyami himself flagged him down.

A subsequent check with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) showed that the vehicle’s license plate is fake.

During tactical interrogation, De Leon claimed a certain Superintendent Rodolfo Recomono, assigned at the Maritime Group, owned the vehicle he was driving.

De Leon had with him an official receipt of Recomono’s car but the receipt showed it was registered to another vehicle and the real plate number is UCG 223.

Dela Cruz said they have yet to contact Recomono to shed light on the matter. De Leon is currently detained at the Pasig City police detention center. – Non Alquitran