A RANKING official of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday clarified there is no evidence to indicate that the Alvin Flores Gang members killed in a shootout late last month were planning an operation in Cebu.

Executive Officer Er-nesto Macabare said they called representatives of the establishments to a conference last Monday but only to tell them that the names of their firms were mentioned in a note saved on the mobile phone of slain gang member Ritchie Hijapon.

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“This was just to share information. We were informed by our counterparts in Manila about it, as they have the mobile phones and the laptop computer that was secured in the operation here, and Director (Medardo) de Lemos thought it best to inform them,” he said.

But police officials quoted Macabare confirming an alleged plan by the gang to rob Cebu establishments.

Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Patrocinio Comendador said he learned about the plan from Macabare during the Police Coordinating Advisory Council (Pcac) meeting in Cebu City Hall last Friday.

De Lemos is in Manila for a conference with the NBI leadership. He will be back in Cebu next week.

The information, Macabare said, was also given to the police.

He said investigators in the NBI regional office were not able to verify the information because they are not the ones handling the case.

He said the agency also does not want to draw conclusions.

He likewise did not disclose the names the establishments though reports say one is in Cebu City. Four of the establishments are located in Mandaue City and three are in Consolacion.

Macabare said the NBI will provide more information to establishments, as well as the local police, once they become available. Follow-up operations against the gang are still ongoing, he said.

A team composed of NBI 7 agents and operatives from the NBI Reaction, Arrest and Interdiction Division (Raid) from Manila cornered five members of the gang inside a beachside duplex in Compostela town last Oct. 28.

A firefight ensued, leaving four gang members — Alvin Flores, Hijapon, Marc Alejandro Salaman-ca and Roger Belmonte Sanchez — dead. The fifth gang member, Rene Batiancila, was unharmed and taken into custody.

Despite the killing of the alleged gang members, however, Comendador and Chief Insp. Bonifacio Tecson said police should not lower their guard because crimes against property usually go up during Christmas.

Tecson said he advised major establishments in Consolacion to tighten security measures.