Robbers make off with P1M worth of milk products

A truck carrying P1 million worth of milk products was hijacked before dawn Monday in Quezon City by robbers, one of whom passed himself off as a policeman.

The truck, a 10-wheeler registered to the Espino Trucking Co. with license plate DVG 370, was later found abandoned in Manila, according to case investigator Senior Police Officer 1 Eric Lazo.

However, it had been emptied of all its cargo—1,400 boxes containing around P1 million worth of Alaska milk products which were about to be delivered to a warehouse in Pampanga province before the truck was hijacked.

Truck driver Arnel Calo, 36 and his helpers, Lorebert Aldovino, 28; and Dennis Galasi, 27; said they had come from the milk factory in San Pedro, Laguna.

The hijacking happened at 1 a.m. on Mindanao Avenue near the Veterans Memorial Medical Center compound.

The truck had just turned into the avenue when its occupants noticed a man on a motorcycle following them. He drove beside their vehicle and asked them to stop.

Calo described the man as dressed in a police jacket, a pair of black plants and a motorcycle helmet. He also had a gun holster.

Thinking that the man was a policeman, Calo parked his truck beside the VMMC as the suspect approached them and asked for his driver’s license.

As Calo was handing over his license, two more men appeared out of nowhere, shoved him and his helpers into the back of the truck and tied their hands with packaging tape. Their eyes were also blindfolded after which the suspects took over the 10-wheeler.

Calo recalled that the hijackers drove the truck for an hour and then stopped somewhere to unload the cargo.

It then moved again before it came to a stop. When Calo and his companions heard the truck doors being slammed shut, they started to free themselves. They later found out that they were in Sampaloc, Manila.