Four suspected hijackers nabbed

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna — Four suspected notorious hijackers were nabbed by elements of the Regional Traffic Management Group in separate operations in Cavite and Quezon, police said yesterday.

Superintendent Apolinar Felipe, chief of the Regional Traffic Management Office-4A(RTMO-4A), identified the suspects as Ernesto Mejas, Bayani Flores, both residents of Catanauan, Quezon; Joel Perlas and Russel Reyes, of Dasmariñas and Gen. Mariano Alvarez, respectively, in Cavite.

Felipe said, Mejas is the leader of Mejas Group, a breakaway group of the Abelende Hijacking-Carnapping Group operating in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon and some parts of Metro Manila.

"Mejas is also an alleged assassin with a number of murder cases. including two murders in Cavite this year and in 2004," Felipe told The Star.

According to reports, while conducting a survaillance operation at the safehouse of the group at around 9 a.m. on Wednesday, operatives of RTMO-4A chanced upon Mejas and his son-in-law, Bayani Flores, aboard a Mitsubishi Delica, with license plate XJA-149, cruising along the highway in Barangay San Isidro in Catanauan, Quezon

Acting on a tip from an informant, the police flagged down the suspects and seized two short firearms, a caliber .38 revolver tucked in Mejas’ waist and another caliber .22 hidden at the side of a passenger seat.

The suspects failed to show documents for the two firearms and could not explain the disparity in the vehicle’s chassis number and the registration papers.

During actical interrogation, police discovered that Mejas’ group was involved in hijacking a Fuso truck with steel bars last July 29 in Barangay Makiling, Calamba City.

The group was also linked to the hijacking of truckload of tiles worth P.5 million on Sept. 1, in Silang, Cavite, a truckload of rice in Biñan, Laguna and a truckload of hogs in Sto. Tomas, Batangas last year.

During interrogation, Mejas revealed the whereabouts of his two members, which resulted to their arrest yesterday.