PNP HPG seizes 12 “hot cars”

By Rey Anthony H. Chiu

Tuesday 5th of June 2012

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, June 5 (PIA) -- The Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) urged Boholanos who plan to buy cars to coordinate first with them before paying to be assured that the vehicle they purchase is cleared and have no problems.

“Your PNP HFG can access records from the national database and can easily tell if the vehicle you are paying is clean,” PNP HPG Director Leonardo Espina said while officiating the June 1 public presentation of the 12 “hot cars” unwittingly sold to Boholanos in the last few years.

The PNP HPG, in coordination with the Presidential Anti Crime Council, seized the 12 “hot cars” mostly Utility vehicles, Commuter vans, and Sports Utility Vehicles in its latest anti-carnapping operations in the Visayas.

In a presentation to the media, PNP HPG Director Leonardo Espina said that the 12 hot cars in Bohol are part of the 67 SUVs, AUVs and commuter vans, including sedans, that the authorities netted in six months of recovery operations in Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, and General Santos City.

Among those confiscated from Boholano owners were three Isuzu Crosswinds with plate numbers KEF 600 (red), GSV 653 (violet), and GSV 683 (white), all of which were stolen while parked in Makati and Paranaque.

The HPG has also in its possession seven Nissan Urvan commuter vans, most were stolen and with tampered engine and chassis numbers but have been registered in the present year.

The fleet includes a white Nissan Urvan with plate number YDZ 881, with engine and chassis numbers that do not match, both coming from two different stolen units, white Nissan Urvan with plate number YHL 958 with tampered chassis and engine number, reported stolen from Makati City last April 24, 2004.

Also included is a green Nissan Urvan with plate number YDZ 971, which was loaned from a bank but the owner defaulted payment, tampered the chassis and engine numbers, and then sold it to a Boholano.

Other four white Nissan Urvans, one with plate number YHD 654, is now confiscated when highway patrol authorities noted tampered engine and chassis numbers. The other three, with plate numbers GPC 882, PRV 633 and GJE had tampered engines and chassis numbers or had unauthorized change of engines, according to the HPG.

Among the hot cars was a black Mitsubishi Pajero, with plate number TSR 512, which had delinquent registration and was found in violation of the LTO and Traffic Code.

The PNP HPG also impounded a white Isuzu DMax pick-up which bore plate number PPS 888 for illegal transfer of plate numbers and the use of fake plates.

PCSupt. Espina also said the HPG Visayas operation came from an earlier assessment that Central Visayas has become a major hub in the processing and trafficking of stolen vehicles from Luzon and shipped to the south by a syndicate fed by a notorious carnapping network called Baktin.

The group’s connection in Manila, Bacolod, and Cagayan de Oro has already been neutralized, according to him. (rmn/RAHC-PIA 7, Bohol)