In the lucrative carjacking business, crime rings have to stay one step ahead of law enforcers. When the Land Transportation Office computerized its operations, allowing the creation of a database accessible to all its branches nationwide, cohorts of carjacking rings in the LTO found ways of tampering with the computerized data so stolen vehicles could be given new registration papers.
A letter added to or changed in a chassis number, for example, allowed the registration in Lanao del Norte of a new Mitsubishi Lancer that was reported stolen last month by its owner who lives in Quezon City. The car was traced after its new driver, Albert Daquiado, was apprehended in Davao City recently by the police Highway Patrol Group for violation of the seatbelt law. The HPG’s suspicion was aroused by the car’s LTO sticker, which was valid for only one year when the regular ones are good for three years.
A joint task force of the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, digging into carjacking operations, also managed to register with the LTO non-existent vehicles for a fee of P10,000. Hot cars need to be registered and passed off as legit, and the connivance of some LTO personnel is indispensable in carjacking operations. HPG personnel have also been suspected of coddling notorious carjacking rings.
Authorities should go after carjackers with as much zeal as they have shown at various periods in the past in catching kidnappers. With huge profits to be made, many carjackers needing to get away with their crime have resorted to kidnapping and murder. Carjackers are suspected to have perpetrated the gruesome murder of a son of lawyer Oliver Lozano. The apprehension of the hot car in Davao and the results of the investigation of the joint task force should provide sufficient leads for a wider operation to dismantle carjacking rings and apprehend their cohorts in government agencies.