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 recently.

PNP chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome yesterday commended the HPG for the recovery of the stolen vehicles through their intensified and renewed drive against car theft syndicates.

Bartolome said the recovery of the 23 stolen vehicles in Negros Occidental and six others in Cagayan de Oro was the biggest accomplishment of the HPG in recent years.

The recovered vehicles were presented yesterday by Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina, HPG director, to Bartolome, who spoke at the graduation of the PNP Special Counter Insurgency Operation Unit Training at Camp Alfredo Montelibano Sr. in Bacolod City.

Bartolome said he believes the HPG crippled the operations of the car theft syndicate with the recovery of the vehicles, which the crime group had sold to unsuspecting buyers.

Espina said the shipment of the stolen vehicles from Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao had became rampant after the dismantling of the HPG inspection units fielded in key ports of the country in 2001.

He 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.

The luxury vans and sport utility vehicles are reportedly being sold by the syndicate at 50 percent of their original price.

A disgruntled member of the syndicate allegedly tipped the police on the modus operandi of the group, leading to the recovery of the carnapped vehicles.

Bartolome said they are investigating employees of a certain government agency involved in the documentation of vehicles, who may have helped the car theft syndicate with the shipment of stolen vans and SUVs.

“This should serve as a warning to those who are in cahoots with carnapping syndicates, whether they are in an agency involved in the documentation of vehicles, that their days will soon be over”, he said.

Bartolome said that upon his assumption of the PNP leadership he was ordered by President Benigno Aquino III to enhance the HPG anti-carnapping operations that had resulted in the recent recovery of the vehicles.

Carnapping incidents in the country have dropped by 56 percent from January to March this year, compared to the same period last year, HPG records showed.

Espina attributed the decrease to the relentless campaign of the HPG that had neutralized 27 carnapping and hijacking groups.

Bartolome said he expects to unmask the identities of individuals in some government agencies who are in cahoots with carnapping syndicates.

The re-installation of HPG inspection units in various ports, Espina said, may help minimize, if not totally stop, shipments of stolen vehicles to various areas in the country.*GPB

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