Wild talks or A-1 intel report?
Comeback crime spree of notorious 'Ilonggo Group' stirs up intel community, business groups
Are they staging a comeback or is it all wild imaginations? For top cops of Police Regional Office (PRO) 6, it pays to be on guard and it will not certainly hurt to be "extra cautious."
CUEVAS
As such, an alarm has been sent off to intelligence groups of both city and province of Iloilo as no less than the second highest police official of the region talked to the media about the supposed comeback of the notorious "Ilonggo Group."
With gang members also known and once dreaded as the "Pototan boys," Senior Supt. Isagani Cuevas, PRO 6 Deputy Regional Director for Operations confirmed "intelligence reports" of the crime group's resurgence.
From an elaborate bank heist foiled in March and the supposed liquidation of "unfriendly" members of the Judiciary, Senior Supt. Cuevas said though that the police are on top of the situation. What said crime group has, he added, were "pocket groups" whose alliances were either on a break or seeking shelter and refuge here for the moment.
Speaking over Bombo Radyo yesterday, Cuevas said it was highly possible that the bank heist was planned in order to secure finances for the gang's other criminal activities.
While no specifics were released, intelligence sources told The News Today (TNT) that the target bank was located in Jaro District where weeks were spent by gang members to familiarize themselves with the bank's operation.
No heist was implemented as city cops went on alert.
Talks about the liquidation plot, on the other hand, persisted with Cuevas saying it was back in February still when PRO 6 got the information. The subjects of the planned hit were reportedly chosen based on the judgments rendered and handling of murder and drug cases faced by members of the crime group.
Senior Supt. Cuevas clarified though that no personalities were actually named other than the detail that the plan and plot to kill will be on Court Judges who has jurisdiction of kidnapping for ransom case particularly of Filipino-Chinese teener, Jefferson Tan.
The case is pending before Branch 30 with Judge Adrian Savillo presiding over the celebrated case.
The group of Jonathan Poblacion stand as principal suspects in the Tan kidnapping case with all eight accused detained at the Iloilo Rehabilitation Center (IRC). Security has since been beefed up amidst fears of an escape.