EDITORIAL - Crime alert

For all those rosy reports about a falling crime crate, the public can only be alarmed by recent events. A band of thugs raids the armory of a private security agency and carts away 35 M-16 rifles, 15 shotguns and 15 bulletproof vests. Two months later, during the early evening rush hour, the band tries to steal at gunpoint the van of a 19-year-old nursing student waiting for his sister in a shopping center on a busy, narrow road in Parañaque City. When the young man resists, he is shot dead.

Two suspects have been arrested; another was shot dead in an encounter with police. This would be reassuring, if not for recent reports of a manhunt for a band of thrill killers believed responsible for 22 homicides and robberies in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces. The gang is believed armed with several handguns. Also worrisome are continuing reports of carjackings especially in Metro Manila. And the long operation of that shabu tiangge right under the noses of local government and police officials in Pasig hardly inspires confidence in the agencies tasked to ensure public safety.

Two things are clear: organized crime rings have access to guns, and they profit from their activities. Despite some of the toughest gun laws in this part of the world, loose firearms continue to proliferate. Apart from a weak campaign against smuggling, which allows the entry of guns including high-powered rifles and machine pistols, there is a thriving underground industry that produces handguns locally. The industry has a ready market in a country where enforcement of gun laws is a joke.

Bountiful profits from criminal activities also inspire boldness among crooks. Carjacking is flourishing because everyone down the line profits, from the men who actually steal the cars to the people who maintain the warehouses and garages where stolen vehicles are repainted and given new license plates, to the crooks in government who issue new vehicle registration papers, and finally to the fences who buy stolen vehicles and car parts.

Until these problems are dealt with decisively, there will be no significant drop in carjacking, and we will see more 19-year-olds being killed for their vans.