2 nabbed in QCPD anti-car theft drive

Elements of Quezon City Police District (QCPD) anti-car theft division, backed up by a Special and Weapons Tactics (SWAT) team, arrested last Tuesday night two suspects and recovered four vehicles in a series of operations against groups preying on car rental firms in the city.

Superintendent Roger James Brillantes, chief of the QCPD District Intelligence Investigation Division (DIID), identified the suspects as Ronnie Javier 33, a car body restorer from Calumpit, Bulacan, and Fernando Alijandro, 33, a laborer from Tondo, Manila.

In his report to QCPD director Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan Jr., Brillantes said the crackdown on the car theft gangs was carried out after Ana Maria Bautista, a car-for-rent operator, sought police assistance for the recovery of a silver Toyota Altis (ZBS 732), which was rented by a certain Ronnie Javier, who later demanded P75,000 for its return.

After receiving the complaint, Brillantes organized a team to conduct an entrapment operation against the suspect, who had directed Bautista to bring the money to a parking area at the corner of E. Rodriguez and Green Meadows Avenue

Shortly before midnight yesterday, police operatives arrested the suspect in the act of receiving the marked money from Bautista.

Police recovered the stolen Altis and a silver Toyota Camry (WGK 188).

Brillantes said a follow-up operation resulted in the recovery of a blue Toyota Altis (XJW 913), which had been abandoned on Kamuning Road, also in Quezon City.

At 7 a.m. yesterday police recovered a fourth vehicle — a gold Mitsubishi Lancer GLX (XRR 389), which was abandoned in front of a bakeshop along Mc Arthur Highway in Guiguinto, Bulacan.

"The suspects and the recovered vehicles were brought to the QCPD anti-car theft division at Camp Karingal for investigation and proper disposition," Brillantes said.