Truck helper shot dead, driver wounded in Zamboanga del Norte attack

MANILA, Philippines—A cargo truck helper was killed and a driver was injured by unidentified gunmen who flagged down their vehicle in Zamboanga del Norte Sunday morning, police said Monday.

Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, Region IX police spokesman, said truck driver Joseph Alga along with helper Hanape Lambana Plantis, 23, and two people and two children, were traveling from Dipolog City to Siocon in Zamboanga del Norte when the vehicle was stopped by gunmen wearing balaclavas in Barangay (village) Poblacion in Baliguian, Zamboanga del Norte, around 10:20 a.m.

The vehicle, a red Isuzu forward cargo truck (TNX 983), was loaded with assorted goods and grocery items.

Quoting the testimonies of Mina Alid Alamin and Cardio Hinolos Naong who hitched a ride on Algas’ truck, Huesca said the men pointed their caliber .45 pistols at the victims, and demanded money from them.

When the men found out that the victims didn’t have money, they ordered them to get off the truck. Alga and Plantis were dragged to a grassy patch in the area.

“A minute later, they [hitch riders] heard seven bursts of gunfire,” Huesca quoted the witnesses as saying.

He said the two, along with Alamin’s two children, were able to escape. A dump truck passed by and they asked the driver to give them a ride.

Baliguian police said the gunmen didn’t take anything from the cargo truck.

Alga, despite his wounds, managed to escape and drive his truck to Baliguian town where he met village chief Jose Jeda.

He was rushed to the Baliguian Rural Health Unit for medical treatment and later transferred to Siocon District Hospital.

Meanwhile, police recovered the bullet-riddled body of truck helper Plantis.

A grenade and seven empty shells from caliber .45 pistols were recovered from the crime scene, police said.