3 Koreans indicted for carnapping

CEBU, Philippines - Finding probable cause, the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office has indicted three Koreans for carnapping.

State prosecutor Ramon Caresma said there was enough evidence to charge accused Kim Kyung Hwan, 33, owner of the Suwon Jong Hap Auto Parts Inc., in Mandaue City and two of his friends Jang Hyun Lee, 34 and Wonseok Lee, 32 in court.

“Respondents failed to adduce countervailing evidence despite due notice. Accordingly, and there being probable cause from the evidence on hand to hold respondents for trial as charged, it is recommended that the attached indictment be preferred in court,” the resolution read.

He recommended P180,000 bail for the three accused.

It was Ramon Fernandez, a resident of Barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City, who filed the complaint against them.

In his complaint, he alleged that on Jan. 19, 2013 at around 6 a.m. he discovered that his gray Starex Van 2000 model with license plates GGL 639 worth P420,000 was gone from where he had parked outside his house.

He reported it before the Cebu City Police Office, the following day he said he was informed by the authorities regarding the arrest of the accused.

In the Mandaue City Police Office, he positively identified the recovered carnapped vehicle as his.

To prove the allegations, a sworn statement of Roldan Alesna was attached to the complaint. Alesna was the dummy owner of Suwon Jong Hap Auto Parts Inc.

Sometime in January, Alesna said two Hyundai Starex vans without license plates, one black and the other gray, were brought to the Korean Cars Service Center in A.S. Fortuna Street, Barangay Bakilid, Mandaue City.

He said he got instructions from Kim to repaint the two vehicles and to tamper with the chassis numbers by replacing them with their stock Hyundai Starex’s chassis numbers.

He said he passed the order to his co-workers mechanic Michael Prado and auto body builder Tommy Barcelo.

However, he later when he heard about the carnapped vehicles, he, Prado and Barcelo went to the police station to voluntarily give their statements. — (FREEMAN)