Bullet-riddled pickup puzzles probers

An abandoned vehicle riddled with bullet holes was found just outside The Heritage Park in Taguig City early Sunday, leaving police investigators puzzled.

Senior Supt. Arthur Felix, Taguig police chief, said the dark gray Mitsubishi Strada pickup with plate number RLY 330 was left by the side of C-5 Road in Barangay (village) Pinagsama.

It later turned out that the vehicle belonged to an Air Force sergeant. It had been reported stolen by his wife last month.

The police found the vehicle at 2:30 a.m. Sunday after a resident in the area reported the matter to them.

Other residents who were interviewed also told investigators that they heard faint sounds of what they believed to be gunshots earlier in the day.

The incident initially left the police puzzled as the vehicle was empty. There was no suggestion that the bullets hit anybody inside the pickup as there were no bloodstains.

There were, however, bullet casings on the floor of the vehicle and 10 bullet holes on its right and rear sides.

Felix said investigators managed to trace ownership of the pickup when they found an identification card belonging to TSgt. Pablito Igne of the Philippine Air Force inside. A check of its license plate also confirmed the owner to be Igne.

Probers later found out that Igne’s wife, Hellen, had reported the pickup as stolen. She told the police that she was driving it on Feb. 3 in Quezon City when armed men stopped her, demanded the keys and took off with the vehicle.

“They filed a report in the Quezon City Police District. But they have not seen the vehicle since then,” Felix said.

He added that they were still trying to determine how the vehicle ended up in Taguig, noting that witnesses spotted four motorcycle-riding men leaving the area where the gray pickup was later found.