Carjackers strike in front of QC school

MANILA, Philippines - A sport utility vehicle (SUV) was forcibly taken from its driver in front of a school in Quezon City Thursday afternoon.

Superintendent Ferdinand Villanueva, head of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Anti-Carnapping Unit, said the Marteja-Briones carjack group – one of its leaders is a 21-year-old man – could be behind the heist.

Villanueva said a white 2009 Mitsubishi Montero Sport (NCO-336) owned by Maria Maxima Garin was carjacked at past 2 p.m. in front of the Montessori Child Development Center in Barangay Loyola Heights.

He said Garin’s driver, Ishmael de los Reyes, pointed to a photo of Gilbert Marteja, 21, in the rogues’ gallery.

“One of the carjackers had similar features to Marteja,” Villanueva said. “We have to be sure that he is the same person and that they are the same group.”

De los Reyes said he was in the driver’s seat of the SUV, waiting for his employer’s son, when two men approached him and forced him out of the vehicle at gunpoint.

He said the man who looked like Marteja was the one who pointed a gun at him and took over the wheel. He said they shoved him onto the back seat of the SUV, then sped toward Xavierville Avenue. They took his wallet and cell phone, he added.

The carjackers picked up a third man then left De los Reyes on Ferra Road near EDSA.

QCPD director Chief Superintendent George Regis earlier said there are four carjacking groups operating in Metro Manila and one of them is the Marteja-Briones group.