Pangasinan cop nabbed for using stolen van

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – Police counter-intelligence task force (CITF) operatives on Thursday arrested a policeman in Mangaldan town in Pangasinan for allegedly driving a van, which had long been reported as stolen by its owner.

SPO3 Jonathan Sanchez, who is assigned at the Mangaldan police station, did not resist when CITF agents nabbed him at Barangay (village) Navaluan in Mangaldan at about 10:25 a.m.

Police said the CITF operation stemmed from a complaint of Rosa Pamor of Caloocan City that her van, which she had rented out to an individual on September 8 last year, was not returned.

On December 18, Pamor received a report that her van was at the custody of the Mangaldan police station. But when she verified, she was told that it was not with the police station’s custody.

Investigators found out that on September 28 last year, Mangaldan policemen arrested several suspected thieves and seized their van but the arresting policemen did not declare the seized vehicle in their report.

Police said that since then Sanchez has been using the van for his personal use and for police operations.

Also seized from Sanchez were a 9 mm pistol with a magazine containing 14 bullets and a caliber .45 pistol.

Sanchez and the recovered vehicle are now under CITF custody. Aside from administrative cases, Sanchez is also facing car theft charges. /muf