SANTA MARIA, Bulacan–Two suspected car thieves were killed here after evading several police checkpoints in the province early Saturday morning.
Senior Supt. Romeo Caramat Jr., Bulacan police director, said the two unidentified suspects were aboard a Toyota Vios without license plate when they first evaded a police checkpoint in Barangay Muzon in the City of San Jose del Monte at around 8 p.m. Friday.
A flash alarm was then sent to different police checkpoints in the area by the 1st Bulacan Provincial Mobile Force Company (PMFC), headed by Supt. Ferdinand Germino, for the possible flagging down of the said vehicle for verification.
Supt. Carl Omar Fiel, police chief of Santa Maria, said the vehicle was later seen cruising a road in Barangay Sta. Clara in Santa Maria town but again the suspects ignored and evaded a police checkpoint, prompting lawmen to case it.
The pursuing police operatives were approaching a bridge along the Bypass Road in Barangay Santa Cruz in Santa Maria town at around 4:30 a.m. Saturday when they sighted the suspects on board the vehicle and began firing their guns to law enforcers.
The policemen returned fire resulting in the neutralization of the two unidentified suspects, Fiel added.
Caramat said police investigators recovered from the encounter site a .38 caliber gun without serial number with one spent bullet and four live ones; a caliber .45 gun with serial number 175247 with five live bullets; a fragmentation grenade; face mask; a hand-written sketch plan; a coin purse with seven plastic sachets of suspected shabu and PHP1,000 cash money; a sling bag with seven plastic sachets of suspected shabu and PHP4,000 cash money; two digital weighing scales; drug paraphernalia; and the silver-colored Toyota Vios.
As of this press time, police were still verifying the identities of the slain suspects. (PNA)