Alleged gang leader nabbed in La Union

BAUANG, La Union — Joint operatives of the provincial and municipal police arrested the alleged leader of the so-called Valle Verde Gang, a notorious car theft syndicate based in Metro Manila, here last Wednesday.

Senior Superintendent Samuel Diciano, provincial police director, said the suspect, Jose de los Santos II, 32, a resident of Valle Verde 2, Pasig City, was arrested along with two companions.

Diciano informed Chief Superintendent Alfredo de Vera, Ilocos regional police director, that De los Santos was arrested on the strength of a warrant of arrest issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Roberto Cawed for four counts of car theft and four counts of estafa.

De Vera ordered Diciano to coordinate with the Traffic Management Group to verify if De los Santos’ companions were also involved in the illegal activities.

The three were arrested on board a Ford F150 (with license plate WLK 809) owned by a certain Alicia de Jesus of Tondo, Manila.

The police suspect that the vehicle was stolen because its chassis and body numbers appear to belong to another vehicle. This, however, is still being verified.

De los Santos, whose family owns the De Los Santos Medical Center in Quezon City, was in La Union to visit his relatives in San Juan town.

Policemen led by Superintendent Pedro Ubaldo intercepted De los Santos’ group at about 2 p.m. last Wednesday at a checkpoint along the national highway in Barangay Central East here.

De los Santos earlier voluntarily surrendered to Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes after he was implicated in various car thefts in Metro Manila. He denied the charges.

He was also linked to the three alleged carjackers who were killed in a shootout with policemen in Pasig City last Nov. 7.

One of De los Santos’ alleged victims in La Union was a supposed relative, Alexander Abriam, to whom he sold an allegedly stolen Adventure GLX (model 2003) in July 2004 for P440,000.

The vehicle was found registered under the name of another person from Quezon City.

De los Santos posted bail late Wednesday with the help of his relatives from San Juan town.