POLICE operatives arrested an official of the Quezon City government last Saturday night for allegedly extorting a huge amount of money from a businessman putting up a warehouse for a pet shop business.
Police identified the suspect as Joel Aquino Avila, 56, a supervisor at the Quezon City Engineering Office and a resident of Sun Valley Subdivision in Antipolo City.
Avila was nabbed in an entrapment operation conducted by operatives of the Quezon City Police District-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU) at the Army Navy restaurant on Visayas Avenue, Barangay Basra in Quezon City at around 8 p.m.
He was nabbed based on the complaint of a businessman who sought the help of the suspect sometime in 2022 for the processing of a building permit, business permit, zone and certificate of exemption for the warehouse of his pet foods business.
The victim reportedly made several bank deposits, amounting to P2.6 million, to the account of Avila’s wife, Mary Jean Avila.
However, Avila was not able to produce the documents requested by the businessman.
Police said later attempts by the victim to contact the suspect yielded negative results.
But Avila contacted the victim last March 15 demanding P1.7 million, purportedly for the Quezon City Council which will be helping them. Avila later lowered his demand to P700,000.
Police said the suspect even threatened the victim “that they would not be able to process all the documents if he could not produce the said amount.”
