MikeLigalig.com

By Lydia C. Pendon
Sun Star

AT LEAST 10 “Bukas Kotse” groups that may belong to a single syndicate are operating separately in Iloilo City, a police official said.

A rash of car thieves have upsurge in areas with least police visibility within this week that baffled the local police force.

But Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) deputy city director, Eugenio Espejo said a vital witness was able to identify one suspect, Francisco Tamayo of Barangay Monica city proper, as one of the three men who ransacked a parked vehicle in Burgos St. La Paz district last Monday.

Another incident happened in Quintin Salas and in Dungon A, Jaro district that police estimated more than P1 million worth of properties and cash carted away by the robbers.

Espejo said the suspects are new faces and most of them have no picture in the rogue gallery of the local police.

He said some are speaking in Tagalog, Waray-waray and Cebuano, indicating that these people are not natives of Iloilo.

The robbers modus operandi consisted of at least three men doing the actual ransack while one vehicle ran up to cover the incident from viewers.