4 rob suspects slain in Laguna

MANILA, Philippines - Four heavily armed robbery suspects were killed in an encounter with police in San Pedro, Laguna yesterday.

The suspects yielded M-16 rifles, a Carbine, a caliber .45 pistol and an Ingram machine pistol and two vehicles loaded with stolen goods worth millions of pesos.

Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr., director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), identified two of the slain suspects as Joseph Alipio and Alberto Cahanding Jr., both of Taguig City.

Pagdilao said Alipio and Cahanding belonged to the Ferrer robbery gang responsible for several hijackings in Cavite, Batangas and Laguna.

The gang members were former convicts and inmates at the Bicutan jail in Taguig City who were recruited by gang leader Danilo Ferrer.

Pagdilao said the four suspects were killed after an exchange of gunfire with members of the CIDG Special Task Group “Maverick” and the Cavite provincial CIDG team led by Chief Inspector Rey Magdaluyo along Magsaysay Road in San Pedro town at around 3:30 a.m. yesterday.

STG Maverick chief Senior Superintendent Rhodel Sermonia said the suspects were on board an Isuzu six-wheeler winged-van loaded with 192 units of Fukoda flat-screen television, and a gray Isuzu Crosswind when they were flagged down by his men.

He said the gang used the gray Isuzu in recent hijackings in the Calabarzon region. – With Arnell Ozaeta, Ed Amoroso