A Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) official who demanded P420,000 for the release of an overseas Filipino worker’s impounded Mitsubishi Adventure was apprehended on Thursday.
Operatives of the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) and the HPG apprehended P/Major Raul Salle during an entrapment operation in his office in Camp Crame, according to a report by The STAR.
Salle was arrested after he allegedly received marked money. The police officer was said to have demanded money from an OFW from Pasay City in exchange for the release of her impounded SUV.
The official will face charges of robbery extortion and estafa, as well as an administrative case for grave misconduct, according to PNP-IMEG director P/Col. Romeo Caramat.
Caramat said that Salle was previously relieved from his post over similar cases.
“I’m under instruction to dig deeper into our investigation kung yung superior niya is in connivance dito sa illegal activities ng arrested officer na ito so ongoing pa ang investigation,” Caramat said.
According to initial investigation, the victim sought the help of HPG to report her missing vehicle. However, Salle asked her to pay P140,000 to begin the investigation.
The victim was supposedly instructed by Salle to borrow P70,000 from a non-uniformed personnel named Alex as part of the down payment, The STAR reported.
However, when the victim sent money through Salle to pay for her loan, the police official said that it was never remitted because he already spent the money.
Salle then suggested that the victim could pawn her vehicle in order to pay her loan, which the latter agreed to. However, instead of pawning the victim’s vehicle for P300,000, Salle supposedly used it personally.
When the victim visited the HPG to claim her vehicle, Salle allegedly asked for P300,000, which prompted her to report the extortion incident to IMEG. – Romina Cabrera/STAR
