2 truck ‘hijackers’ slain in shootout with Bulacan cops

Map of Bulacan

SAN RAFAEL, BULACAN–Two hijackers were killed while their target victims were safely rescued by responding policemen recently, authorities said on Monday, March 26.

Col. Relly Arnedo, Bulacan police director, identified the suspects as Marlon Duton, 44, of Cauayan City, and Elmer Amayao, 35, of Quirino Province. Duton and Amayao were both declared dead on arrival at a hospital in adjacent Baliwag City.

Duton and Amayao, both armed with .45-caliber pistols, were killed by personnel of the Second Provincial Mobile Force Command (PMFC) based in this town after a shootout that took place along the national highway in Barangay Sampaloc at 9 p.m. on March 23.

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Col. Ismael Gauna, Second PMFC commander, said Duton and Amayao were on board a Toyota Avanza when they hijacked the trailer truck loaded with sacks of corn worth P800,000 in Aritao, Nueva Ecija. The truck originated from Cauayan City in Isabela and was bound for Batangas City.

According to Gauna, the truck driver and his helper were held at gunpoint, tied up, blindfolded and hidden behind sacks of corn.

The suspects proceeded to drive the truck and met with a middleman in San Rafael town to initiate the sale of the corn.

However, the middleman grew suspicious of the transaction, prompting him to contact the truck owner who informed him that the truck might have been hijacked.

The middleman then called the police who immediately responded, leading to a chase and shootout. INQ