Robbers nabbed after getaway taxicab got stuck in pothole

Police arrested two robbers shortly after midnight yesterday when their getaway vehicle got stuck on a rock that was protruding from a pothole on the road in Quezon City.

Police said the getaway taxicab of the robbers got stuck on the rock after the vehicle’s bottom portion sagged due to the weight of the stolen metal spare parts that were loaded at the car’s back compartment.

The vehicle’s bottom was stuck and cannot move and prevented the robber Richard Dizon and taxi driver Cresenciano Cantero from escaping.

Dizon was charged with robbery while the case against Cantero is being reviewed after the driver claimed that he was just hired by the suspect.

Superintendent Elmer Bantog, commander of the Quezon City Police District-Station 1, said the stolen items included 33 pieces of engine starters and alternators for trucks worth P317,000 that were recovered from the compartment of the taxicab with license plates TXJ-271.

“It was really bad luck (for the robbers). With the weight of those metal parts, the compartment of the taxicab would definitely sag. They would really be caught,” Bantog told The STAR.

He said that since the spare parts were for big trucks, they were relatively heavier and the taxi was too small to transport the heavy spare parts.

Bantog said the spare parts were stolen from the storeroom of the Izumi Diesel Center on A. Bonifacio Avenue in Barangay Pag-ibig sa Nayon, Quezon City.

Bantog said the incident happened at around 12:30 a.m. when the robbers used a bolt cutter to cut the wire fence of the storeroom while the lone security guard of the shop was allegedly sleeping.

Dizon loaded the spare parts at the compartment of the taxicab driven by Cantero.

Probers said when the stolen spare parts were all loaded and the robbers were about to make their getaway, the vehicle’s rear bottom portion was stuck on the rock.

Bantog said the suspected were unloading some of the spare parts when residents noticed the commotion and reported the incident to QCPD Station 1. Responding policemen arrested the two suspects.