7 carjack suspects nabbed in Caloocan

Northern Police District intelligence agents arrested seven alleged carjackers while unloading stolen cargo from a trailer truck before midnight Thursday in Caloocan City.

NPD director Chief Superintendent Pedro Tango identified the suspects as Benafred Mamalias, 21; Tony Sayson, 33; Rodel Millete, 43; Benjamin Serrano, 33; Emilio Mascardo, 40; Tomas Reyes Jr., 44; and Ferdinand Decierdo, 24, all residents of Cavite.

Tango said that an 18-wheeler truck, with its tractor head bearing license plate CNE 351 and its trailer PUF 289, was recovered with some of its around P2-million GI sheets cargo already missing.

The truck, marked Yokohama International, is registered to a certain Anita Tan, a resident of Binondo in Manila, Tango said.

The police also impounded a passenger jeepney (DTX 401), owned by Reyes, one of the suspects, which was loaded with some of the stolen GI sheets.

The suspected carjackers yielded a Magnum 44 pistol with four bullets, a .45 caliber pistol with three bullets, and a .38 caliber revolver with five bullets. All of the handguns have no licenses.

Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago Jr., NPD intelligence and investigation division chief, said that at around 9 a.m. Thursday, they received intelligence report that a cargo truck was carjacked somewhere in Cavite. The carjackers, he was informed, were to deliver the stolen goods in Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela (Camanava) area.

The truck was loaded with GI sheets owned by Sonic Steel Industries Inc. in Trece Martires, Cavite and was on its way to Lucena Mabuhay Lumber and Hardware store in Lucena City to deliver the cargo.

The carjackers reportedly hogtied the truck driver and his three helpers, but retained one of them, Decierdo.

Santiago said Decierdo served as the group’s tipster and have victimized Sonic Steel at least four times already.

“Their fifth attempt, we got them,” Santiago told The STAR.

A crack team composed of Chief Inspectors Rogelio Ramos and Arturo Paras, SPO3 Juanito Lazaro, SPO2 Rande Tumbaga, SPO2 Aurelio Arandia, SPO2 Wilson Vicente, SPO1 Aloysius Bobis, PO3 Edgar Clemente, and PO3 Rodolfo Cruz was dispatched to intercept the carjackers and their stolen truck.

At about 11:20 p.m., Santiago’s men gathered that armed men were seen unloading GI sheets from a cargo truck to a passenger jeepney in a dimly lit portion of Dagat-Dagatan Avenue in Barangay 8, Caloocan City.

The police verified the report and arrested the seven suspects.

Mascardo, the group’s alleged leader, yielded a Magnum 44 and a .45 caliber pistol while police seized from Decierdo a .38 caliber revolver.

“Mascardo and his group, we learned from our counterparts in Cavite, are not only into robbery and carjacking but also work as guns for hire,” Santiago said.

When the suspects were asked about the charges, only Mamalias talked.

“This is the first time that we engaged in illegal activity and we don’t have a leader,” he said.

Tango commended his men for the suspects’ arrest without firing a single shot.

He directed Santiago to workout for the apprehension of the other members of the group including unscrupulous traders in cahoots with their illegal activities.