RAMPANT bag lifting inside the Faculty of Arts and Letters seems to have been checked after a suspect, said to be a member of the Salisi Gang, was caught in the act inside the college premises last Feb. 20.
The suspect was Arthur Juan, 25, jobless, and a native of Obando, Bulacan.
Juan was arrested after Ma. Nina Luzviminda Reyes, a Behavioral Science senior, saw him searching the bags of unsuspecting students. Reyes immediately asked security guard Danilo Tumbaga to monitor Juan’s actions.
In an instance, Juan tried to escape after Tumbaga reprimanded him. Tumbaga, together with some students, ran after Juan all the way to the comfort room where they collared the suspect.
While being questioned inside the comfort room, Juan said that he was senior AB student. Juan could have pulled it off if not for a glaring blunder – he said that he was majoring in Accounting.
In addition, Juan also confessed that he had been operating since September.
It was speculated that Juan would enter the building at around 11 o’clock when students flocked the entrance after they had been dismissed or were rushing to get to their classes.
According to students who were in the scene, Juan was wearing an AB uniform with only four pleats and a UST strap without an ID card.
Recovered from him were three bags, two of which were seen hidden under the tanks of toilet bowls. Also recovered from him were credit cards from his past victims. Among the cards recovered were those of Prof. Anita Garcia of AB, which had been missing since October.
Juan was then turned over to the police. Billy Joe I. Allardo
