Kidnap victim's car recovered: Gang man says car used in kidnapping, robbery

MANILA, Philippines - A sedan owned by a kidnap victim was recovered over the weekend by policemen in Quezon City recently following the arrest of a self-confessed kidnap gang member who said the car was used in at least three crimes, police said yesterday.

A blue-gray Toyota Corolla (TEM-112), driven by businesswoman Betty Chua when she was abducted on Dec. 14, 2010 in Malabon City, was recovered Saturday night by operatives of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Station 6. Chua reportedly paid P3 million for her release.

Police said Chua’s abductors apparently attempted to change the color of the vehicle, which had a red first coat when it was found.

According to arrested gang man Jerry de la Cruz, the vehicle had been used in the abduction of two children and their driver, Marco Garlanl, last January in Barangay Baesa, Quezon City.

De la Cruz said the group also used the sedan in a robbery along Banlat Road earlier this month.

Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo Jr., commander of the QCPD Station 6, said De la Cruz was arrested following a tip about a red Corolla with improvised plates TDN-364 – which turned out to be tampered – parked along Luzon Avenue near De la Cruz’s house.

Policemen, led by Chief Inspector Wilfredo Alfonso went to the site Saturday night and spotted De la Cruz alighting from the vehicle. When the lawmen accosted him, De la Cruz yielded a .45 caliber handgun and a hand grenade, neither of which had supporting papers.

QCPD Station 6 police officers asked Chua to identify the recovered vehicle. Accompanied by members of the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response unit, Chua said the vehicle was hers, based on the car’s chassis number.

When questioned by policemen, De la Cruz admitted to having been part of the group who kidnapped the two children last Jan. 31. The victims’ family purportedly paid P1.5 million ransom, but De la Cruz said he was given only P6,000.

“He (De la Cruz) feels he had been shortchanged,” Pedrozo said, noting that this may have been the reason the confessed gang man was willing to provide information about the other members of the group.

De la Cruz told reporters that the sedan was first entrusted to him by other members of the group, who were former soldiers. He said the men were new to their neighborhood and befriended him. “They eventually gained my trust and asked me if they could park the vehicle there,” he said in Filipino.

Pedrozo said the kidnap group, purportedly led by a certain Ricky, has five more members – among them Ricky’s brother, Negro, and a certain Popeye. Negro is also known as GF or grand founder of the Guardians Brotherhood, he said.

QCPD director Chief Superintendent Benjardi Mantele said they are hunting down other members of the group.