Wednesday, December 19, 2007 Bukas-Kotse gang men victimize board member By Raymond C. Garcia
CANDABA -- It seems that even public officials are not spared from thieves nowadays, especially during the holiday season when felons have been proven to be more aggressive.
Pampanga fourth district Board Member Ricardo Yabut fell prey to alleged Bukas Kotse gang members last Saturday while his service vehicle, a Mitsubishi Adventure bearing license plate SHH-780, was parked within the premises of a shopping mall in the City of San Fernando.
Yabut said he and his wife dropped by the SM City Pampanga to go shopping. After 15 minutes, he said he was surprised to discover that the glass window of the left rear door was broken.
"When I inspected the inside of my service car, I found out that several items inside it were missing," he said.
He said he immediately reported the matter to the guard on duty who, in turn, tried to locate the suspects, together with the other guards but to no avail.
This prompted them to call police and report the incident.
Police revealed that the still unidentified suspects were able to cart away belongings of the board member and of his wife, including his Colt caliber .45 pistol worth P35,000, a black berry mobile phone worth P20,000, and assorted keys and documents.
On the same day, the board member called again to the police and reported that they were able to recover several items in a garbage can situated at Greenville Subdivision in Barangay San Jose, City of San Fernando.
The recovered items include a green and a yellow bag, assorted keys, assorted ATM cards, black berry instruction manual, a key of a Mitsubishi Pajero, other keys and assorted identification cards.
Police said the suspects, with the intention to gain items inside the board member's vehicle, opened the left door by breaking the window glass with the use of an unknown hard object.
Once opened, suspects took and carted away the couple's belongings and fled towards unknown direction.
San Fernando policemen are still conducting follow-up investigations to trace the whereabouts and identification of the suspects.
Yabut also said he will recommend to the Provincial Board to call upon the SM City Pampanga officials in a special session to discuss matters on how to tighten security within the premises of the mall.
