Rent-a-car business establishments in Bacolod City should require their customers to submit police and National Bureau of Investigation clearances before renting cars to them to avoid being victimized by carnappers, City Police Director Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz said yesterday.

Suspected members of an organized carnapping group operating nationwide rented two Mitsubishi vehicles from a local firm on June 18 and failed to return them. One of the vehicles was recovered in Cagayan De Oro City and four men on board it, whose names were not disclosed, were apprehended by the Highway Patrol Group.

De la Paz said that they are now in close coordination with the owners of rent-a-car establishments and have given them pre-emptive measure tips.

He said owners of rent-a-car establishments should verify the personalities of their customers, especially if they are not from Bacolod.

Dela Paz said members of this organized carnapping group usually tell the rent-a-car establishment that they will rent the vehicles for several days to tour their foreigner friends, but would later bring the cars to other areas where they will be sold.

Intelligence reports show that vehicles stolen in Metro Manila and in Mindanao are being brought to Bacolod City and in Negros Occidental.

Twenty-three luxury vehicles, reportedly stolen in Metro Manila and other areas of the country, were recovered by the PNP Highway Patrol Group in its anti-carnapping operations in Negros Occidental last year, police records show.

During his visit to Bacolod City in November last year, Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina, Highway Patrol Group director, said that the shipment of the stolen vehicles from Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao became rampant after the dismantling of the HPG inspection units fielded in key ports of the country in 2001.

Espina identified the Baktin Group, a highly-organized car theft syndicate, as the one behind the sale of stolen luxury vehicles in Bacolod City, and other parts of Negros Occidental, and Mindanao.

He said luxury vans and sport utility vehicles are reportedly being sold by the syndicate at 50 percent less than their original prices.*APN

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