Truck hijack foiled

Police foiled an attempt to hijack P4.2 million worth of medicines and cosmetic products late Thursday evening in Parañaque City, resulting in the apprehension of a Filipino-Chinese man and four others.

Superintendent Ronald Estilles, Parañaque City police chief, said highway robbery charges would be filed against Ronald Castillo, 37, and Julio de Dios, 54, both residents of Gagalangin, Tondo; Hondrato Suarez, 36, of Las Piñas City; Arman Gatungal; 40, of Caloocan City; and Joseph Yang, 38, of Quezon City.

Estilles presented the suspects at the Southern Police District (SPD) before Chief Superintendent Prospero Noble Jr., SPD chief, and police Director Ricardo de Leon of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

He said the suspects belonged to the Oscar Villanueva group. The alleged leader, Oscar Villanueva, of Gagalangin, Tondo, was able to elude arrest.

Senior Police Officer 3 Elpidio Soquina, of the Parañaque Police-Anti Carnapping Unit, said an informant told them about a delivery van that was about to be hijacked. "From the suspects, we recovered four cellular phones and cash amounting to P10,000. We did not recover any firearms."

At least 12 policemen, all of them carrying hand-held radios, were deployed along the stretch of Sucat Avenue from Loyola Memorial to Sucat Interchange to spot the container van.

"To avoid raising suspicion that police were on to the suspects, we did not deploy a large force in the area. We only used eight officers using two cars to follow the container van," Estilles said.

At around 11:30 p.m., the 14-footer Ximex Delivery Express truck (LSG-336), containing the P4.2 million worth of Zuellig pharmaceutical and Avon cosmetic products, was spotted cruising along Sucat Road. It was being driven by Edito Suyang and accompanied by the company guard Joebert Cabigas, 38.

They were approaching South Superhighway when a red Mazda sedan (THV-664) cut them of. "We did not know what vehicle the suspects were using, so we had to wait for the suspects to make their move before we could apprehend them," the police chief said.

Castillo, Suarez, De Dios and Gatungal alighted from the car and ordered Suyang and Cabigas to get out of the truck. The police then pounced on the suspects, but the leader got away.

In the course of the interrogation, they discovered Villanueva was also responsible for a hijacking incident on May 14. Some P3.6 million worth of textiles was stolen. Villanueva, was able to post bail.

The suspects also admitted that they were supposed to deliver the goods to Yang, their alleged financier and buyer. Using one of the suspects’ phone, they arranged a meeting along Banawe in Quezon City and captured him.

But, Yang denied any involvement in the robbery, claiming he had been kidnapped.