2 hijacking suspects killed in Pampanga

BACOLOR, Pampanga, Philippines  – Two suspected hijackers were killed in a shootout with policemen along the MacArthur Highway here before dawn yesterday, authorities said.

Senior Superintendent Primitivo Retirado, provincial police director, said the hijacking was initially reported by truck owner Jojo Padilla to the Caloocan City police after two armed men hijacked the truck at around 2:20 p.m. last Sunday.

Reports said the truck was carrying at least P570,000 worth of steel pipes and tubes.

The Caloocan police then relayed the information on the hijacked truck, an Isuzu with license plate PRH-552, to other police units in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Retirado said that at around 1 a.m. yesterday, the truck was reported to have entered the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) tollway in Malinta.

This prompted the Caloocan police to alert its counterparts in Bulacan and Pampanga.

The truck exited the NLEX in San Fernando, Pampanga and was cruising the Olongapo-Gapan Road in the city when policemen flagged it down, but the vehicle instead swerved toward the MacArthur Highway, Retirado said.

The truck rammed into a roadblock set up by the police, and one of the suspects reportedly fired at another police team, which rushed to the scene. The truck halted to a complete stop when it struck a fence. – Ding Cervantes, Mike Frialde