2 hijackers slain in Cavite shootout

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines—Two suspected robbers were killed while a policeman was wounded when a group of truck hijackers shot it out with policemen in Imus, Cavite, early Saturday.

The identities of the slain men were unknown.

Senior Superintendent John Bulalacao, Cavite police director, said four armed men—two of them on a motorcycle and the two others in  a white car (Mitsubishi Lancer with plate number WRE-826)—targeted a ten-wheel  truck carrying sand worth P11,000 along the Daang Hari road in Imus at around 1 a.m.

In their statement to the police, truck driver Rudy Llamelo, 56, and helper Pedro Mara-mara, 42, said they were on the road when by the hijackers tried to waylay.

The truck, however, did not pull over, prompting the robbers to shoot the truck’s tires twice to force them to stop.

Bulalacao said patrolling policemen chanced upon the scene and chased the robbers, who immediately fled. They were in Barangay Pasong Buaya, also in Imus, when the encounter took place.

The armed men in the car were killed but the two on the motorcycle made good their escape, police said.

SPO4 Marcelino Perez, one of the chasing policemen, was hit in the belly and left arm and was taken to the Metro South Medical Center in the town.

Police recovered two pistols from the scene.