Police drive forces car thieves out of QC

Car thieves are moving their operations to other parts of Metro Manila as Quezon City policemen step up their campaign against carjacking syndicates following a string of vehicle theft cases in the area.

Case investigator Police Officer 3 Dennis Telen of the Quezon City Police District’s anticar theft unit reported that on Monday, a woman lost her Toyota Vios to three men in Caloocan City.

The victim said that the car thieves took her with them but released her later on in Quezon City.

“There is increased police movement in Quezon City against car [theft] so they [operate somewhere else] in the meantime,” Telen said.

He added that Monday’s incident as well as the five that have occurred since Aug. 24 were all carried out by three men who took their victims with them but released them later on.

Olive Sanchez, the victim in Monday’s car theft incident, said she was in her beige Toyota Vios (PIG 652) which was parked at the R. Papa station of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 on Rizal Avenue in Caloocan City when a man wearing what seemed to be a police uniform knocked on the window.

When she rolled it down to ask what he wanted, he pointed a gun at her and got into the vehicle with two other men.

The three then took over the car and drove off with the victim before they dropped her off somewhere in Barangay San Antonio, Quezon City.

Aside from the Vios, the other vehicles stolen in the city since Aug. 24 are a white Toyota Vios (ZGY 727), a blue Toyota Revo (XEY 106), a black Toyota Fortuner (TQA 679), a beige Nissan X-Trail (NHO 304) and a silver Mitsubishi Montero (NQK 708). Julie M. Aurelio