A hotel employee in Bacolod City was apprehended yesterday for allegedly conniving with a "doctor" in swindling the wife of an international seaman in Bacolod City.

Nicolas Casuncad, 33, married, of Brgy. Dos Hermanas, Talisay City in Negros Occidental, accused for allegedly conspiring with a certain "Jurel Velina" in swindling a Cadiz resident on Thursday, voluntarily surrendered to operatives of the Provincial Anti-Illegal Task Force and Bacolod police at the Cebu Pacific terminal in Bacolod City at about 10 a.m. yesterday.

Police reports said the seaman's wife, who requested not to be named, claimed she received a phone call from an unidentified person who identified himself as "Ambassador Golez", an alleged ambassador to Brazil who told her that her husband was involved in a commotion.

The caller told her that her husband had killed his attacker, a Brazilian national, and there was a shoot-to-kill order against him. The caller also said he was helping her husband who was also injured and planning to send him to Borneo for his safety, the police said.

She said the "ambassador" said the "doctor" who was treating her husband needed P89,465.10 in cash for his treatment. The man gave her the BPI account number of Casuncad where she deposited P89,500 in cash the next day, police reports said.

Later, she said, another male caller, who identified himself as a certain "Dr. Ledesma" contacted her and asked for P70,000 as payment for her husband's rental of his condominium. She also sent the amount through MLKwarta Padala, police reports said.

After sending the money, she said she contacted "Dr. Ledesma", but failed to reach him, and this prompted her to seek police assistance.

Meanwhile, Casuncad, a hotel room boy vehemently denied any involvement in the crime. He said he met "Jurel Velina" who identified himself as a "doctor" when he was cleaning his room in the hotel Sunday.

Casuncad said Velina, who was a gay, befriended him and offered to help him financially.

On Wednesday, Casuncad said Velina, who was in Manila, telephoned him and asked him if he could use his ATM account to get his money from Tokyo, Japan. In good faith, Casuncad said he cooperated with Velina, who also asked him to withdraw P89,500 in cash and send it to him in Manila through MLKwarta Padala.

A few minutes later, Velina called him again and asked him to withdraw another P70,000 in cash from his account which he also did. He said Velina asked him to bring the money personally to Manila because he had no time to travel back in Bacolod.

He said Velina told him to buy a cellphone so that he could contact him easily. On Thursday, Casuncad said he went to Manila to give the money to Velina who met him at the airport and brought him to a hotel. He said Velina gave him P4,000 as his fare back to Bacolod.

To his surprise, Casuncad said his relatives informed him that several members of the National Bureau of Investigation were looking for him for his involvement in a syndicated group.

He said he tried to contact Velina to ask him about the real situation, but the latter had turned off his phone and could not be reached anymore. Meanwhile, Senior Insp. Gary Alan Resuma, PAITF chief yesterday told the DAILY STAR that Casuncad voluntarily surrendered to them and also endorsed his Nokia 3210 cellphone and P440 in cash believed to be proceeds of the transaction, Resuma said.*DMG

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