18 ‘stolen’ motorcycles found in Sultan Kudarat compound

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Policemen hunting down murder and carnapping suspects came upon 18 motorcycles, believed to have been stolen, in a yard in a remote barangay (village) of Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat, early Tuesday, police said.

Inspector Christina Garcia, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Sultan Kudarat, said their operatives were on a manhunt for two men believed to be behind the killing of Senior Police Officer 4 Ruben Sabado, but instead found 18 motorcycles inside a compound in Sitio Kutok, Barangay Ilian, in Esperanza town. Garcia said the motorcycles were of various make and models with their parts inter-changed while others were “chopped.”

“The suspects were gone when we arrived at 3 a.m. Tuesday but we found a stockyard of believed-to-be carnapped motorcycles,” Garcia said in a radio interview.

“We received intelligence information that those responsible for killing SPO4 Sabado were hiding in a safe house in Barangay Ilian, so we conducted the dawn raid,” Garcia said.

Sabado, assigned with the Sultan Kudarat police office, was shot dead by two motorcycle-riding hitmen while he on his way home in Barangay Laguinding, Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat on Sunday evening. His Honda XR 200 motorcyle was taken by the fleeing gunmen.

Garcia said the CIDG and the PNP Highway Patrol Group operatives said most of the motorbikes bore chassis numbers that have been tampered with. He could not say whether Sabado’s Honda 200 XLR was among those recovered.

He said the motorbikes could have been snatched in other parts of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Gen. Santos City and kept in Esperanza town.