the curious case of the broken lock

yesterday i received a call from my sis telling me that our house in the province was broken into / forced open by men who claim to be police operatives looking for a person on their wanted list. my mom, stricken with panic at the sight of these big hulking men, wasn't able to do anything but watch them force the lock; gaining entry to our house at around 4 in the afternoon and entering every room, looking for whatever it is they are looking for. just one hour after the incident, my sis and bro-in-law arrived after picking up the kids from school. knowing mom, she might still be trembling from the experience of it all as she recounted what happened to ate and kuya. good thing no harm came to her.

kuya has already replaced the broken lock when ate called me, tentative and calculating on how to break the news to me gently. as she was recounting the story, i can't help but have questions immediately running in my mind. were these people really with the police if so where is their search warrant? apparently they scared the wits out of my old mom that she wasnt able to demand to see their warrant--they just told her they have a warrant and proceeded forcing open the locked door. i don't really think a real policeman would do that. they could have just asked nicely; no need for such dramatic entrance if you ask me. the second thing to immediately pop into my head was to ask if anything valuable was taken by these men; to which ate replied that everything is still in order. so... could it be that they were telling the truth? that they were really police operatives? but the image of the broken lock in my head is still bothering me. they entered like crooks if you ask me. and who is this man they're looking for? one on their wanted list, they say.

over the years a small muslim settlement living on the outskirts of our subdivision slowly grew into quite an establishment, attracting fellow muslims who make a living either by selling pirated dvds, cellphones, or engaging in high-profit illegal drug trade. the settlement's image became so notorious that the mere mention of our subdivision to tricycle drivers is enough to get them scampering, looking for other passengers instead. i never really gave it much thought until this incident happened though, as i never really go out of the house whenever i go home to the province for the weekend. as ate was recounting some more details from the incident by sms, i remembered to ask her if they had it blottered already. she said yes, then i proceeded to ask what was the police's reaction--do they really have operatives working on the area the moment our house was broken into. no more text messages came in reply, just one saying ingat ako palagi.

another nerve-wracking thing, swimming in my noodle soup.


photo credit : http://www.howstuffworks.com/inside-lock.htm