Driver linked to theft of P.8-M PVC pipes caught

A company driver who disappeared along with a truckload of PVC pipes worth P800,000 he was asked to deliver was arrested yesterday in Antipolo City.

Eastern Police District (EPD) director Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz said Isabelo Manzano was arrested based on an arrest warrant issued by a Pasig City judge for qualified theft.

Senior Superintendent Eduardo Villena, head of the EPD’s district investigation and detective management division, said Manzano was employed as a driver of a trucking firm owned by Jess Bartolome based in Barangay Rosario in Pasig City.

Late last year, Manzano was tasked to deliver a truckload of PVC pipes worth P800,000 from Manggahan in Quezon City to a construction site in Pasig City.

Manzano failed to show up at the site and Bartolome’s truck was later found abandoned in an area in Pasig City.

Villena said they received information that Manzano sold the cargo. “We are now tracing the buyer to file anti-fencing charges against him,” Villena told The STAR.  – Non Alquitran