Three car thieves slain in shoot-out identified

Three of the five members of a notorious car theft and robbery gang slain in a shoot-out with the police in Quezon City on Wednesday have been identified after their relatives came forward to claim their remains.

Police identified the three slain gang members as Nelson Perje Banadera, 39, a tricycle driver of Project 7, and Arman Perez, 30, and Emerson Alcantara So, 29, both jobless, of Barangay Bago Bantay.

Insp. Elmer Monsalve, homicide section chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit of the Quezon City Police District, said they are  checking the slain suspects’ police records.

The three slain suspects were allegedly members of the Lintag Group—a notorious gang believed behind a series of car thefts and bank robberies in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

The group, which was on the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) watch list of organized crime groups, have been under surveillance for more than a month prior to Wednesday’s encounter.

Monsalve said the suspects’ identities were known after their relatives appeared before the CIDU to claim their bodies.

Banadera was identified by his live-in-partner and  the two others by their respective mothers. The other two slain suspects have yet to be identified.

The five gang members died in a shoot-out with operatives of the CIDG’s Special Task Group “Maverick” and the QCPD at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday along Congressional Ave. Extension near Luzon Avenue in Barangay Culiat. Five others managed to escape.

The gang members were on board a black Toyota Fortuner (NFO 492) and a beige Toyota Innova (ZDX 875) when they were flagged down by the police  on Luzon Avenue.

But they refused to stop and started firing at the policemen who were forced to retaliate.

Recovered from the slain suspects were three Armalite rifles, two .45 caliber pistols and five blue T-shirts with the word “Pulis” written on them and a pair of license plates.

Police also found in the pockets of two slain suspects some papers which indicated that the group was planning to rob a bank in the area.