EDITORIAL - Neutralizing carjackers

Five suspected carjackers were shot dead in what police said was a shootout in Hagonoy, Bulacan last Wednesday. It came as no surprise that among the suspects was a corporal in the Army’s elite Scout Ranger Regiment who lives in Fort Bonifacio. Police traced the suspects after chancing upon a stolen car being driven by a member of the gang.

In recent weeks several members of carjacking rings operating in Metro Manila and Central Luzon have been arrested. Law enforcers deserve commendation for the arrests, although there are speculations that some of those apprehended or killed were simply neutralized by their former coddlers in the police.

The involvement of police and military personnel has been one of the biggest hindrances to the campaign against carjacking. Since martial law the theft of luxury vehicles has been one of the most lucrative criminal undertakings involving members of the uniformed services. If the Arroyo administration wants an honest-to-goodness crackdown on this criminal activity, it should make sure the coddlers in the military and police are also identified and purged.

Carjacking cannot flourish without the fences that buy and sell what they very well know are stolen cars. There are vehicle repair shops that make a killing on repainting stolen vehicles and altering chassis and engine numbers. Then there are the unscrupulous personnel of the Land Transportation Office and their partners in the vehicle insurance industry, without whom carjacking rings cannot flourish.

Vehicles stolen in Metro Manila are hidden in garages owned by members or protectors of the carjacking syndicates. After the appearance of a stolen vehicle has been altered, spurious papers and license plates are issued by the LTO personnel, often in an LTO branch far from where the vehicle was stolen. Sometimes carjackers don’t even bother to give a stolen vehicle a paint job; only new license plates are needed.

Over the years these syndicates have set up an elaborate, efficient network that must be dismantled if the campaign against carjacking is to be successful. It’s not enough to apprehend or even kill those who steal the vehicles themselves. There are other layers in this crime operation, and each layer must be neutralized.