FIVE heavily armed car thieves were killed yesterday in a dawn encounter with Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and Quezon City Police District (QCPD) operatives along Congressional Road, Quezon City.
CIDG Chief, Police Director Samuel D Pagdilao Jr. said that the five fatalities belong to the Lintag Group responsible in the series of carjacking and robbery holdup in Metro Manila and some parts of Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon.
Pagdilao said the suspects were slain in a shootout with members of CIDG Special Task Group “Maverick” along Congressional Road at around 4:30 am. Three other suspects escaped.
He said that CIDG and Scene of the Crime Operatives are still verifying the identities of those who were killed in the encounter. Authorities have recovered three M16 baby Armalite rifles and two .45 pistols at the crime scene.
Pagdilao said that the latest encounter with the members of the Lintag group was part of government efforts to hit hard on organized crime groups, which is being directed and orchestrated by newly reorganized Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) under Executive Secretary Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa.
STG Maverick Chief, Police Senior Superintendent Rhodel O Sermonia said that the suspects were aboard two vehicles, a brown Toyota Innova (ZDX 857) and a black Toyota Fortuner (NFO 492), when the encounter ensued.
Sermonia said the suspects refused to pull over when they were flagged down by operatives along Luzon Avenue and instead fired at the marked vehicle of the CIDG.
CIDG and QCPD operatives went after the suspects in a running gun battle that left five suspects bloodied dead.
Sermonia said that the Lintag Group is a newly formed group of ex-convicts engaged in carjacking and robbery. He added that Lintag Group is included in STG Maverick’s watch list of organized crime group.
