The two carjacking suspects recently arrested in Pasig City have been identified by more jeepney drivers plying C-5 Road as the men who not only seized their vehicles but also forced them to strip naked on the roadside.
Case investigator Police Officer 3 Dennis Telen of the Quezon City Police District’s anti-car theft unit said a total of seven drivers had come forward to lodge complaints against Arlan Alibio and Winston Verches, both 38 years old and from Pasig.
Alibio and Verches were arrested on Tuesday morning in a police chase after they tried to take the jeepney being driven by Johnny Lagundi, 41, of Bagong Ilog, Pasig.
The driver was headed to Cubao with a full load of passengers, including the suspects, when the latter declared a robbery on the approach to Wilcon Home Depot store in Libis, Quezon City.
The suspects ordered the other passengers to get off and Lagundi to make a U-turn. They then tried to take over the steering wheel but the driver refused to yield, causing the jeepney to swerve and catch the attention of a mobile patrol team.
Police pursued the speeding jeepney before it toppled over near the Tiendesitas shopping center as Lagundi fought off the suspects.
The driver sustained injuries and had to be hospitalized while Alibio and Verches, who were unhurt, yielded a .38-cal. pistol when arrested, police said.
Telen said the other complainants had a common experience with the two suspects: They were ordered at gunpoint to drive toward South Luzon Expressway and, just before reaching the highway, were told to get off their jeepneys and undress on the roadside.
The suspects would sell the stolen jeepneys for as low as P30,000 each, according to QCPD car theft investigators.