Cops hunting last active group of QC carjackers

Intelligence operatives of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) are tracking down the last known group of carjackers operating in the city, a top police official said yesterday.

"As of yesterday, the only active group operating in Quezon City is the Pagdanganan Group, which is headed by a former Marine sergeant. We are tracking them down," Chief Inspector Rodolfo Jaraza, head of the police intelligence division told The STAR.

A two-month anti-car theft campaign has resulted in the killing of nine carjackers and the arrest of 10 others.

Jaraza said other groups like the Molino Gang, Bautista Group and the so-called Balikbayan Group have been neutralized in a series of police operations carried out in Quezon City.

Jaraza, who was designated by QCPD director Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan as chief of the anti-carnapping unit, said that aside from neutralizing carjack groups, the QCPD also launched "Operation Market Denial," which targets outlets of stolen car parts in the Banawe district.

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. earlier directed the QCPD to intensify the monitoring of outlets that buy and sell stolen auto parts to complement the drive against car thieves and carjackers.

Superintendent James Brillantes, chief of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID), has seized truckloads of car parts of unknown origin and has also filed criminal cases against the suspected dealers of stolen car parts.

Last Wednesday, three suspected car thieves were killed in a shootout with operatives of the QCPD in Novaliches, bringing to five the number of suspects neutralized this week.

Earlier, QCPD’s District Police Intelligence Unit killed two suspected carjackers during a shootout in Barangay Maharlika.

Suspects Pedro Bautista, believed to be the leader of a carjacking group, and Adriano Hernandez were killed following a chase and brief gunbattle.