Muñoz City cops bust MC theft ring run by minors
SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ – Police here smashed a motorcycle (MC) theft ring allegedly being operated by a group of youngsters aged 14 to 18 following the arrest of seven suspects and the recovery of a stolen motorcycle.
“Napag-tripan lang daw nila,” said city police head Lt. Col. Marlon Cudal when asked about the suspects’ alleged involvement in the incident.
Cudal said his men got a breakthrough in the said case after Barangay kagawad Rodolfo Bacungan of Bical tipped the police about a group of individuals chopping off the parts of a motorcycle in Purok Kailanlan in the barangay at 11:00 a.m.
The tip-off came after an MC theft victim, a helper mechanic of Bantug West, Bgy. Bantug sought police help after his black Honda 125 XRM was stolen while parked inside the Fernandez compound in San Sebastian Street, Bgy. Bantug at midnight of June 19.
Lt. Col. Cudal said responding operatives raided the supposed “chop-chop” den owned by one of the suspects and caught four of them dismantling the parts of a motorcycle later discovered to be the stolen motorcycle of the helper mechanic.
After arresting the four young suspects, one of whom is a 17-year-old girl from Bgy. Bical, police zeroed in on the suspects’ three other cohorts, who were also subsequently arrested in Bgy. Linlingay during a follow-up operation.
Cudal said two of the arrested suspects are aged 18, three are 14-year-olds, the other one is 17, and the last is a 13-year-old, the youngest.
He said proper coordination has already been made with the City Social Welfare and Development Office about the case, while charges for violation of Republic Act 10883 (Anti-Carnapping Act of 2016) have been readied for filing against the arrested suspects.
