Carnapping is new scourge of the times

By Al S. Mendoza

AGAIN, this carnapping thing.

Although it’s been in existence for quite some time now, carnapping has now become the scourge of the times.

Why, because it has claimed lives – and continues to.

One recent victim was from a prominent family – the son of Oliver Lozano, the famous Marcos lawyer.

And the way Lozano’s son, and the two other victims, had been killed struck the very core of a society now plagued by the wanton display of brutality.  Obviously, it could only be the work of people without regard for human dignity and decency.

If the murderers had become bereft of conscience, it was very clear in the manner they snuffed the lives of their victims.

Look. The murdered men (Lozano, Evangelista and Sentil) had been clearly tortured before being put to the torch – literally.

Were they really victims of car thieves?

Think again, fellas.

When their charred bodies were found together with their vehicles burned to waste, the carnapping angle immediately disappeared.

The new question cropped up: Were they now members of a car theft syndicate killed by their own kind as a result of revenge due to double-cross or something?

Maybe yes, maybe no.

But here’s one interesting fact: The victims’ vehicles were never stolen.

Thus, the murderers burning their victims’ vehicles would point to this:  Anyone doing hanky-panky on us would suffer the same fate.

To repeat: Was the gory crime an act of revenge or a bizarre attempt at sending a chilling message across?

We’ve all heard about it.

A gang specializing on stealing cars owns a warehouse to store its loot.

Carnapped vehicles are brought to the warehouse for dismantling – the vehicle parts to be sold to businessmen who know that what they’re buying are chop-chop parts of stolen vehicles.

Most of these parts being sold, my mole tells me, find their way mostly into shops in the metropolis, like at the Banawe car row in Quezon City, or in Evangelista St. in Makati.

But thus far, have you heard of any businessman getting arrested for the anti-fencing law?

If you hear talks about lawmen probably involved in the carnapping syndicate, nothing new there.

As pundits love to say all this time, no crime syndicate will prosper without the help of authorities.

Arrests had been made in the triple murders.

Don’t be surprised if these suspects will end up as mere fall guys.

Almost always, it happens all the time.

And, in such crimes, history will tell us the masterminds will be the most difficult to catch.

One reason for that?

Listen to my legman: “Their hunters are not really bent on hunting down their preys.”

You have any reason for that?

C’mon, shoot.

It might be as good as mine.

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