5 nabbed in PNPA recruitment scam, including 2 cops

MANILA, Philippines — Five people, including a police lieutenant and a patrolman, were arrested in a series of law enforcement operations for allegedly extorting money from an applicant seeking entry into the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA). PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. warned that uniformed personnel involved in recruitment fixing and extortion schemes would immediately face administrative and criminal sanctions. “A police uniform is not a shield for wrongdoing. Any police officer who uses his position, influence or the name of the PNP to deceive and extort money from applicants will be dealt with firmly and without favor,” Nartatez said in a statement. “We will not tolerate rogue cops who betray the trust placed in them and bring disgrace to the organization,” he added. The initial entrapment operation was conducted on Sept. 12 outside a shooting range store in Barangay San Nicolas in San Fernando, Pampanga by combined teams from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Regional Field Unit 3, CIDG Pampanga, Regional Intelligence Division PRO 3, Regional Standby Operations Group and San Fernando City Police Station. After the acceptance of marked money from a 29-year-old male applicant, the teams swooped in and collared three suspects, aged 59, 55 and 62. The operation stemmed from a week-long intelligence surveillance initiated after the applicant reported the recruitment-extortion attempt on Sept. 7. Initial investigation showed that the five demanded P250,000 to guarantee entry into the PNPA, an amount that was later reduced to P150,000. Follow-up operations led to the arrest of two PNP personnel linked to the network – a police lieutenant assigned as team leader of the Basilan provincial cyber response team under the Anti-Cybercrime Group and a patrolman assigned to the 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company of the Zambales Police Provincial Office. The lieutenant was arrested in Quezon City while the patrolman was nabbed at Camp Olivas in San Fernando, Pampanga. The arrests came after the three said they had yet to hand over the policemen’s share of the extorted amount.