By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) will deepen its investigation on a junk shop allegedly storing stolen telecommunication batteries in the city’s Barangay 25.

BCPO director, Police Colonel Noel Aliño said, aside from the stolen batteries worth P13.6 million, they also found copper wires, power cables and traffic signages stored inside the JLC Junkshop.

They believed the items had also been stolen.

Aliño said junk shop owner Dennis Coo, Jr. has a lot to explain, as the police have already considered this a high-profile incident.

He said all junk shop owners in the city have already been repeatedly warned not to accept stolen items.

He added that he would again summon them to prevent the incident from happening again.

On June 29, three suspects — 30-year-olds Erwin Aribato and Joseph Villanueva, and 26-year-old Romely Quiatchon — were arrested after the BCPO received a tip-off from the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office and the Mabinay Municipal Police Station that they are transporting stolen telecommunication batteries to Bacolod.

Police recovered 15 telco batteries from a black van used by the suspects, and discovered 136 more inside the junk shop, where they were supposed to drop off the alleged stolen goods.

Representatives of telecommunication companies have also confirmed they owned the batteries.

The suspects have since been turned over to the Mabinay Municipal Police Station and are facing robbery charges over the incident.

The BCPO is preparing charges against Coo for violating the Anti-Fencing Law.

Aliño has also issued a recommendation to the city government to revoke the junkshop’s business permit./DGB, WDJ