Traffic cop nabbed for extortion

MANILA, Philippines — A traffic policeman accused of extortion was arrested in a sting in Zamboanga City on Friday afternoon.

S/Sgt. Roberto Francisco, who was detailed at the Zamboanga City police Station 10, was collared in Barangay Labuan based on a complaint of a habal-habal driver, according to Brig. Gen. Ronald Lee, chief of the Philippine National Police-Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group.

The complainant said Francisco asked money from him in exchange for the release of his motorcycle.

“S/Sgt. Francisco has been the subject of several complaints of extortion activities, targeting mostly habal-habal drivers as well as people who do not have quarantine passes,” Lee said in a statement yesterday.

The complainant said his motorcycle was impounded on March 29. He said he was neither issued a ticket for his violation nor his case was logged in the police blotter.

He said Francisco first asked for two fighting cocks, but later changed his mind and asked for P3,000.