5 in cargo hijacking charged

Five persons, including a policeman assigned with the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and a teenager, were slapped with criminal charges before the Manila City prosecutor’s office for last month’s hijacking of a cargo of toiletries worth P2.4 million in Quezon City.

PO1 Sherwin Casauron, 33, assigned with the NCRPO Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit (RPHAU), of Geronimo Street in Sampaloc; Nico Manlapaz, 19, of V.G. Cruz Street, Sampaloc;  Rodrigo Peralta, 34, of

M. dela Fuente Street, Sampaloc; Alfredo Dimapilis, 42, of V.G. Cruz Street, Sampaloc; and Elias Villamer, 45, of V.G. Cruz Street, Sampaloc, were rounded up in a series of follow-up operations by Manila Police District (MPD) Sampaloc station 4 operatives.

MPD station 4 commander Supt. Rolando Balasabas said the suspects were charged with car theft and robbery as well as violation of Presidential Decree 1612 or possession of stolen property before the city prosecutor’s office.

Balasabas explained that the arrest and the charges against the suspects stemmed from a Jan. 28 incident where members of the group allegedly intercepted along Edsa Balintawak, in Quezon City, a 10-wheeler cargo truck (TXD-536) on its way to Cabanatuan City to deliver some P2.4 million worth of Unilever products.

The station commander said that two men in police uniform, including PO1 Casauron, flagged down the truck on the pretext of a traffic violation.

When Real Time Movers and Logistics Inc. truck driver Federico Soriano, 53, stopped, Casauron and his cohort allegedly announced the heist and directed the driver and his 24-year-old companion Gerald Ballesteros to get off the truck.

The policeman’s three other alleged accomplices then commandeered the vehicle while the truck driver and his companion were hogtied, blindfolded and dumped somewhere in the Sampaloc district of Manila.

Balasabas said they were able to track down the suspects and the stolen truck several hours after the hijacking through a global positioning system installed on the vehicle.

Police operatives located the truck parked at the corner of

V.G. Cruz and Sobriedad Streets and arrested Manlapaz, Dimapilis, and Villamer.

The arrested suspects then led the police to their other cohorts.