Family of 3 loses SUV to 8 carjackers

MANILA, Philippines - A group of at least eight men kidnapped a couple and their daughter and took their sport utility vehicle (SUV) in Barangay Ugong Norte, Quezon City yesterday morning.

Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) chief Superintendent Antonio Yarra said the couple (identity withheld for security reasons) picked up their daughter, who is in her 20s, from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport after she flew in from the United States.

QCPD Anti-Carnapping Unit (Ancar) head Chief Inspector Rodelio Marcelo said the victims were traveling along C-5 Road’s northbound lane on their way home to Quezon City when the carjackers’ black Toyota Fortuner (ZFV-397) bumped the victim’s white Mitsubishi Montero, which hit the curb in front of a cakehouse in Barangay Ugong Norte.

Three witnesses told investigators that the girl was dragged from the family car and shoved into the robbers’ car before the two cars took off in the direction of Pasig City.

Marcelo said the girl was dumped along Pedro Gil street in Manila and was told by the carjackers to wait there as they went to fetch her parents in the family car. He said the couple was later dumped somewhere in Parañaque City.

After waiting for an hour, the girl decided to report the incident to the Manila Police District.

Aside from the SUV, the suspects allegedly divested their victims of P50,000 and jewelry, laptops and other valuables.

Yarra said the heist has been initally tagged as the handiwork of the “Bundol Gang,” whose members follow their victims from the NAIA, rear-end (bundol) the victims’ vehicle, then rob them.

“This is not a kidnap-for-ransom case as others may want to believe but is one of abduction, carjacking and robbery,” Yarra told The STAR in an interview.

Marcelo, who said his unit is also conducting a parallel investigation on the incident, also ruled out ransom as the motive for the incident.

Both Yarra and Marcelo said they do not exactly know which group pulled the heist but based on the modus operandi and the route taken by their quarry, they initially tagged the perpetrators as members of the Bundol Gang.

Marcelo said the group is highly organized and is believed to have “spotters” at the NAIA to identify their potential victims.

He said it is the third such incident in the city. A month ago, another couple, also traveling from NAIA, were waylaid along C-5 Road and robbed.

“The other cities – Mandaluyong, Pasig and Manila – have their own share too of this kind (of incident),” Marcelo said, adding that the modus operandi is not new but “the groups that employ it change.”