Hijacked truck found in Valenzuela; P.7-M cargo, driver both missing

A 10-wheeler cargo truck loaded with 1,700 boxes of Ginebra San Miguel was found Saturday night in Valenzuela City, both its cargo valued at some P700,000 and driver missing.

The Ting Ting, Jun Jun Trucking cargo truck (USM-852) was found along Benito Hao street, Barangay Mapulang Lupa, Valenzuela City at about 11 p.m. Senior Superintendent Oscar Paginado, Valenzuela City police officer-in-charge (OIC), said the truck was hijacked by five armed men on board a gray pick-up without license plates in Paniqui, Tarlac last Saturday at about 4:15 p.m. The truck had just picked-up its cargo from the La Tondeña plant in Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan, and was en route to IDLO Enterprises in Lawang Bato, Valenzuela when it was hijacked.

Simeon Castillo Jr. and Jaime Lacadin, the truck’s helpers said that the suspects boarded their vehicle and hogtied and blindfolded them. They told police that they were quite sure the cargo were unloaded somewhere in Barangay Mapulang Lupa but could not pinpoint the place as they were blindfolded.

When the suspects abandoned the cargo truck, the duo said they were able to untie themselves and report the incident to truck owner Luis Lorenzana, 47, of Urdaneta, Pangasinan. Lorenzana said the driver, Ernesto Lacadin, was nowhere to be found. The Valenzuela City police are conducting follow-up operations for the arrest of the suspects and the recovery of the lost cargo.

Meanwhile, agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Northern Field Office, apprehended 11 bar girls during a raid in a suspected prostitution den in Novatas Saturday night.

Superintendent Gene Ines Abrajano, CIDG-NFO chief, said his men led by agents Joseph Ferrer, Rex Casinos and Ed Balita, caught while dancing nude one Christy Lopez, 25.

Abrajano said his men raided the Wild Apple pub house located on M. Naval street, North Bay Boulevard South, Navotas, after receiving reports that the club served as a front for prostitution. – Pete Laude