The incident happened inside a computer shop at about 11:20 p.m. on July 11 in Sampaloc Manila, according to a police report.

Hermenigildo Mateo, owner of the computer shop reported that six armed suspects, wearing civilian clothes, barged inside his shop and introduced themselves as police officers conducting an operation against illegal online gambling.

“They demanded and took the money worth P40,000 from the owner in exchange for not getting arrested for illegal gambling. They demanded to be given P4,000 every Friday as weekly protection money. They also took the P3,500 from the counter table and one 500 GB Hard Disk Drive containing the CCTV footage before leaving the said computer shop,” according to the report.

Upon receiving the complaint, PBGen. Andre Dizon, MPD director, ordered the formation of a special investigation team that conducted an operation resulting in the arrest of PSSg Ryann Paculan Tagle; PSSg Jan Erwin Isaac Santiago; PCpl Jonmark Dabucol Gonzales; Pat John Lester Reyes; Pat Jeremiah Sesma and Monay Martinez, a civilian asset who was with them at the computer shop. The policemen are members of the District Police Intelligence Operation Unit (DPIOU) of the Manila Police District.

“The MPD is committed to further step up on the campaign against rogues in uniform and the intensified implementation of the Internal Cleansing Program of the PNP (Philippine National Police). We will not tolerate any illegal activity of our policemen. Rest assured that the MPD will properly act with due process on all complaints against erring police personnel,” Dizon said.

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