Two men nabbed in act of circulating fake peso bills
THE Dagupan Police nabbed two suspects on Wednesday while in the act of circulating counterfeit peso bills.
Arrested were John Guisalon, 29 and Alven Orasan, 35, both of Upi, Maguindanao, by plainclothesmen who posed as passengers to entrap the suspects who were reportedly commuting back and forth and paying counterfeit bills to jeepney drivers plying the Downtown Dagupan to Tondaligan Park route.
Following their arrest, Police Provincial Director P/Sr. Supt. Percival Barba warned the city’s traders to be wary of the paper bills they are receiving as payment for goods.
Guisalon and Orasan are now facing charges for counterfeiting and violation of the currency law.
Found in the possession of Gaisalon were 21 pieces of fake P200 bill and four pieces of fake P100 bill. Orasan yielded three pieces of P1,000 counterfeit bill.
All the fake bills were submitted to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas branch in Dagupan City for examination.
A cursory examination of the fake bills showed they resemble the legal tender except for their paper texture and the serial numbers appear darker.
An entrapment was set for the two when Genaro Bautista Jr. filed a complaint before the police, alleging that he was gypped by the suspects who paid a fake P200 bill for their fare.
He discovered it when he gassed up at a gasoline station in barangay Mayombo, and was promptly told that the P200 bill he paid, among others, was fake.
On receipt of Bautista’s complaint the police assigned three plain clothes policemen aboard Bautista’s jeepney, in thehope that the suspects will ride again.
Just as lawmen expected, Guisalon and Orasan boarded the jeepney again and paid with another fake P200 bill. Policemen collared them on the spot.
Another jeepney driver, Reynaldo Raon, 29, went to the police station to also lodge his own complaint against the suspects.
Benny Aquino, president of the Association of United Transport Organization Province-wide (AUTOPRO) said two members of his group were also victimized by the suspects.
It appears that the modus operandi of the two suspects and their co-conspirators is to circulate these bills at night to unsuspecting jeepney drivers who cannot immediately examine the fake bills.—LM
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