Mandaue police voice concern on car thefts

Two Hyundai Starex vehicles were stolen in front of the homes of their owners  last week in Mandaue City.

At the Agro Macro subdivision in barangay Cabancalan, 60-year-old Elmer Mordeno woke up to find his van with  plate no. LMX 857 gone from the front of his house at 5:30 a.m last Wednesday.

In  San Vicente Village, barangay Subangdaku, a Starex vehicle owned by 55-year-old Danilo Teves with plate number GKT 747 went missing at 3 a.m last Saturday.

Teves had just arrived  home when he noticed his van was gone. He immediately reported the incident to the police.

Mandaue City police said eight vehicles were stolen since the start of the year in Metro Cebu.

Chief Insp. Michael Anthony Bastes, chief of the Investigation and Detection Management Branch (IDMB) of the Mandaue City police, said a  security guard  in San Vicente Village noticed a man  driving Teves’s vehicle out the subdivision at 1:41 a.m.. but thought he was a  family member.

In all eight car theft cases, a white Kia Carnival van bearing plate number KEZ-652 was spotted roaming the areas prior to the thefts, said Bastes.

He said the secured  video footage from closed circuit TV cameras sent by security guards.

“I hope the public will report if they spot this vehicle because there’s no clear, identified owner,” Bastes said.

Senior Insp. Meche Gabod, chief of the Casuntingan police precinct, said  no windows were broken in  vehicle stolen from Agro Macro subdivision.

The  stolen vehicles were models ranging from 2000 to 2004. Thieves may have used  false keys in stealing the vans. He said owners shouldn’t park their vehicles outside their homes even if they live in subdivisions.

Bastes also said security guards failed to jot down the plate numbers of vehicles entering and leaving the subdivisions.