MORE NEWS, LA UNION

Fake P1,000,P200 bills seized from syndicate
By Jerry Padilla

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union – A man and a woman, who alleged members of a six-member syndicate involved in counterfeiting peso bills based in Bulacan, were arrested here on afternoon of June 14 while buying goods at a shopping mall using several fake P1000 and P200 bills.

Police named the suspects s Bonifacio Casuar, 37, and Cherry Aquino, 35, both residents of Sapang Palay, San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan. Mayor Pablo Ortega told local media Casuar was caught by City Hall guards assigned at the San Fernando shopping mall after a businessman detected that the P1,000 bill paid to him by the suspect was fake.

Aquino was arrested in a follow-up operation after several shop owners complained to the police station here they were fooled by the woman by paying counterfeit P1,000 and P200 while buying various products. Seized in the suspects’ possession were 20 pieces of fake P1,000 bills, 15 pieces of P200 bills and voluminous goods loaded in a passenger jeep (CGB 223) which they used as service vehicle.

Police said the fake bills easily crumpled and bore questionable figures such as serial numbers and markings. “I am calling for the other victims to show up and file charges against the suspects because this is economic sabotage,” Ortega said. “More charges against them will be heavier.”

The mayor added authorities also found the suspects’ vehicle’s plate number was fake and four of their companions escaped during the operation. Victims Teresita Sandoval and Eufracio Coronel, both owners of a dry goods stall at the dry market, showed up at the police station immediately after hearing the arrest and identified the woman suspect as the person who paid them fake bills. The suspects are detained at the city jail here pending the filing of formal charges against them.