Two Malolos policemen and two of their cohorts were arrested by operatives of the Philippine National Police- Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP-IMEG) for their alleged involvement in robbery-extortion.

Police Brigadier General Ronald Lee, IMEG director said Senior Master Sergeant Vic Godwin Lajom and Patrolman Jay Mark Tuazon, with their two cohorts, were arrested inside the Malolos City Police-Community Precinct 5, where they were assigned, around 12:30 pm Monday in an entrapment operation.

Lee said they received complaints regarding the involvement of the two policemen in a massive protection racket in their area where they demand money from tricycle drivers and traffic violators in exchange for the nullification of their traffic citation tickets,” Lee said.

Lee said the four were arrested shortly after they received a marked P500 bill from a complainant.

Lee said his team conducted a series of validation in the area and discovered that the accused are really known for apprehending erring tricycle drivers and other civilians for traffic violations.

They ask money from them so their citation tickets would be nullified or their offenses downgraded.

PNP-IMEG operatives found out that the accused policemen were using two civilian ‘assets’ identified as aka ‘Pango’ and aka’ Ric’ in their illegal activities.

“The two civilians were found to be acting as the middlemen of the accused policemen in collecting money from the violators,” Lee said.

The suspects are under the custody of PNP-IMEG headquarters in Camp Crame for booking and filing of criminal charges for robbery-extortion.

“The two will also be facing administrative charges for grave misconduct,” Lee said. Ella Dionisio/DMS