6 highway rob suspects shot dead in Tarlac City

ANGELES CITY — Six suspected highway robbers were killed during a half-hour shootout with a joint team of the Tarlac police and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Tarlac City Tuesday night.

Senior Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome, Tarlac police director, said three of the slain suspects were identified through identification cards found in their possession as Sotero Diaz, 42, of Navotas, Metro Manila; Joemar Borromeo, 27, of Ragay, Camarines Sur; and Darius Zarra, 33, of San Pedro, Laguna, said to be the leader of the hijacking syndicate.

The three others remained unidentified as of press time.

Bartolome said Zarra was earlier arrested on robbery with homicide charges before the Tarlac City regional trial court.

The case stemmed from a robbery along the MacArthur Highway in Barangay Aguso, Tarlac City last January.

In a report to the regional police command at Camp Olivas, Bartolome said the suspects, on board a violet Kia Pregio van without a license plate, tried to hijack a 10-wheeler truck loaded with UFC food products worth about P500,000 along the MacArthur Highway at the boundary of San Manuel and Moncada towns.

The truck’s driver, whom the police did not identify, told the San Manuel police that the suspects’ van sidled up to his truck and asked him to pull over.

But one of the suspects fired his pistol, prompting the truck driver to speed off instead of heeding their order.

Alerted about the failed hijacking, police promptly put up checkpoints to intercept the suspects.

Bartolome said the suspects’ van was eventually spotted at about 9:20 p.m. as it approached the checkpoint in Sta. Ignacia town.

He said policemen motioned for the suspects to stop, but they instead sped off toward Tarlac City.

Upon reaching Barangay Tibag in Tarlac City, the suspects rammed through a police checkpoint and opened fire. The police then gave chase and traded shots.

Found inside the slain suspects’ van were a snub-nose caliber .38 revolver without a serial number, two live bullets, and three spent shells; another snub-nose caliber .38 revolver with a defaced serial number and five live bullets and one spent shell in its cylinder; an Armscor caliber .38 without a serial number and with two live bullets and two spent shells in its cylinder; a caliber .45 pistol without a serial number, a magazine loaded with two live bullets; a 12-gauge shotgun without a serial number, two fragmentation grenades, and nine caliber .45 spent shells.

The suspects’ bodies were brought to the Ilagan funeral parlor in Tarlac City for autopsy, while their van was impounded at the Tarlac police crime laboratory for further examination.

Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan, Central Luzon police director, has commended Bartolome and his men for their prompt action against the hijacking suspects. — With Ric Sapnu, Cecille Suerte Felipe