Fireman extorting P400K from applicant arrested

POLICE operatives arrested last Monday in Zamboanga del Sur a fireman who allegedly extorted P400,000 from a fire bureau applicant.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) named the suspect as Fire Officer 3 Jesson Albios Casanes, 35, assigned to the Isabela City Fire Station in Basilan.

The BFP said Casanes was arrested by PNP operatives, in coordination with the BFP, at around 5:15 p.m. in an entrapment operation at Purok Crossing, Barangay Sicade in Kumalarang, Zamboanga del Sur.

Casanes was nabbed shortly after receiving money from the unnamed BFP applicant.

In a statement, the BFP said the arrest of Casanes was “painstakingly planned” by the PNP and the BFP.

The statement emphasized that Zamboanga Peninsula Director Chief Supt. Renato Marcial “has been consistently advocating that hiring in the BFP does not entail any monetary consideration.”