Valenzuela cops probe pedicab driver’s abduction

Police investigators in Valenzuela City are now looking into the abduction of a pedicab driver by three armed men, one of them in police uniform, a week ago in Barangay Karuhatan.

The CCTV footage of Barangay Karuhatan showed pedicab driver Nestor "Estong" dela Cerna plying Guillermo Street around 7am on March 5 when three men on board a white Honda Civic blocked his path.

At gunpoint, the suspects snatched him off his pedicab, and pressed him to the ground.

One of the perpetrators, armed with what appeared to be an M-16 rifle pointed his gun at shocked bystanders.

"Walang lalapit!" the gunman said.

Dela Cerna was then forcibly taken into the vehicle which sped off towards McArthur Highway.

The abduction took all of 35 seconds, based on the CCTV footage.

"Sa bilis ng pangyayari, wala akong natandaan dahil naka-mask yung naka-unipormeng pulis," a witness said.

Valenzuela City Police chief Senior Superintendent Ronaldo Mendoza said that his men did not conduct any police operation on that date, time and place.

It also has no record of coordination notices from other police operating units.

"Nag-conduct na rin kami ng inquiry o verification sa ibang unit. Wala kaming nakuhang info na nag-conduct sila ng operation sa AOR (area of responsibility) namin," Mendoza said.

The license plate ZRG 685 on the Civic used by the perpetrators  is registered to a Toyota Vios based on LTO records.

Dela Cerna is not in the Barangay or Police drug watchlist. He was charged for frustrated homicide in 1988 but the case has since been archived, police said.

Daisyree, one of Dela Cerna's 10 children, has posted the video of her father´s abduction on her Facebook account, in which she pleaded for any information as regards her father's whereabouts.

The Valenzuela Police vowed to dig deeper into the abduction. —NB, GMA News