P3.5M worth of Nestle products confiscated in Paranaque house

More than 700 hundred boxes of assorted Nestle goods worth P3.5 million were retrieved on Saturday in Parañaque City, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said.

The stolen products — stored in 743 boxes which were transported by a truck —were found at a house owned by Albert S. Surla, located along Rosal St., Marimar Village 2, in Barangay Sun Valley in Parañaque, the country’s police force said in a statement released on Tuesday.

With aid from a Global Positioning System device installed in the truck, authorities discovered that the vehicle proceeded and stopped for an hour and 23 minutes at Surla’s house after it was hijacked in Quezon City.

After seeking the assistance of his lawyer, Surla voluntarily turned himself to the policemen for investigation, the same statement said.

Surla claimed that the place was only rented by a certain Tomas Lao — whom he doesn’t know personally — for the storage of items.

Surla also said that Lao called him the night before about the delivery of the said hijacked items.

The truck carrying the goods, which is owned by the Sultan Kudarat Milling Trading Inc., was hijacked by five unidentified armed men clad in police uniforms and onboard motorcycles.

The armed men hijacked the truck at around 4 a.m. on May 22, 2010 at Balintawak, Quezon City, truck driver Esteban Calo and helper Edel Paden later told police investigators.

Calo and Paden were hogtied, blindfolded, and were abandoned along with the truck by the suspects along C-5 Extension in Las Piñas City.

Las Pinas policemen recovered the truck without its contents and the two workers.

The PNP’s Highway Patrol Group, led by its Director and Chief Superintendent Orlando M. Mabutas followed up leads after receiving the complaint of Mr. Arnold Ang, operations manager of Sultan Kudarat. The operation was also led by Chief Police Superintendent Edgardo G. Wycoco,

After the complainant identified the Nestle products as the same item that was hijacked and subsequently inventoried, the same have been turned over to them.

Appropriate charges for violation of PD 532 (Anti-Highway Robbery Law) and PD 1612 (Anti-Fencing Law) is being prepared against Surla while Lao and his group will be the subject of manhunt by the HPG. – RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV