Stolen motorcycles reclaimed

Most of the stolen motorcycles recovered by the Western Police District (WPD) have been reclaimed by their owners over the past week after reading The STAR’s story on carnapped vehicles.

Crispin de Guzman, a retired policeman of the Cainta, Rizal police force, praised the WPD’s anti-carnapping unit and The STAR for the recovery of his motorcycle.

"I already lost hope that I would ever find my motorcycle. But upon reading The STAR that there were several stolen motorcycles waiting to be reclaimed at the WPD headquarters, I took a chance that my motorcycle was among those recovered. And I’m lucky it was," De Guzman said in Tagalog.

According to De Guzman, his motorcycle was stolen outside his residence in Cainta, Rizal last June 11. He reported the theft to the Cainta police station.

Senior Inspector Benjamin Reyes, chief of the WPD’s anti-carnapping unit, said De Guzman’s stolen motorcycle was "spotted" by his men at about 10:30 p.m. in Sampaloc.

In a spotting operation, persons driving suspected stolen motorcycles are temporarily held for questioning. The driver is asked to produce the vehicle’s original receipt and the certificate of registration. If he cannot produce any of the two documents, the vehicle is impounded, Reyes explained.

The driver usually don’t show up again, leaving the motorcycles with the police, he added.

Another stolen motorcycle, a Kymko model with license plate TK-9008, was reclaimed by Juanita Cruz of Marikina City. After showing proper documents, the unit was verified to have a tampered license plate. The unit was recovered in Tondo, Manila by Reyes’ trained personnel.

At present, only two of the 10 recovered motorcycles are still awaiting to be reclaimed by their rightful owners.

"Most of the recovered vehicles were stolen outside Manila but were spotted by my men within the city proper," Reyes said.