THOSE who may have been victimized by hijacking were urged yesterday by Mayor Alfredo S. Lim to check if the suspects in their case are the same ones arrested in Manila and charged by the Manila Police District Director (MPD) recently for hijacking Unilever products worth P2.4 million, with particular emphasis on the cop who is said to be the group’s leader. 

This was announced yesterday by Lim who also directed MPD Director Chief  Supt. Alex Gutierrez to file additional charges of kidnapping against PO1 Sherwin Casauran of the National Capital Region Police Office-Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit (RPHAU), Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig, and residing at No. 567 Geronimo St., Sampaloc, Manila and his cohorts identified as Rodrigo Peralta, alias “Butchoy”, 34, family driver and said to be Casauran’s right hand, of M. dela Fuente Street, Sampaloc, Manila; and helpers Nico Manlapaz, 19; Alfredo Dimapilis, 42, pedicab driver and Elias Villamer, all residing at  V. Cruz, Sampaloc, Manila.    

The mayor likewise noted a report made by Supt. Rolando Balasabas, MPD-Station 4 Commander, which stated that other police units had informed the said station that Casauran had indeed been involved in previous hijacking cases.  

Prior to this, Lim told Gutierrez to make sure that Casauran is subjected to summary dismissal proceedings and charged administratively in connection with the charges.

Casauran was positively identified as the leader of a hijacking group that blocked a van carrying Unilever products at around 6:30 a.m. of January 28 while it was cruising along EDSA Balintawak in Quezon City.

Casauran  and his co-rider in the motorcycle he was in were reported to have ordered truck driver Federico Soriano, 53, and truck helper Gerlad Ballesteros, 24,  to board a black car where they were blindfolded and tied and then dumped in Montalban, Rizal, when Casauran was phoned by a cohort to inform him that three of their men and their truck had been captured by policemen from Sampaloc.                

It was learned that the victims’ truck operator traced the location of their vehicle in Sampaloc through GPS and immediately reported to the police, which caught suspects Manlapaz, Dimapilis and Villamer in the act of loading the products into another truck.

The three arrested suspects identified Casauran as their leader and he was also positively identified by the driver and truck helper whom they abducted and brought to Montalban.

In the light of the information regarding Casauran’s alleged involvement in other similar cases in the past, Lim is urging other hijacking victims to visit the MPD and find out for themselves if Casauran and the other suspects are the same persons who victimized them, so additional charges may be filed against them.