PNP ACTIVATES ANTI-HIJACKING TASK FORCE
The Philippine National Police has activated a Special Task Force that will conduct intensified police operations against hijacking syndicates engaged in highway robbery of commercial cargo.
PNP Chief, Director General Arturo C Lomibao ordered the activation of the Anti-Hijacking Special Task Force and designated PNP Deputy Chief for Operations, Deputy Director General Avelino I Razon Jr. as Task Force Commander in concurrent capacity.
Chief Superintendent Augusto P Angcanan, Director for the Traffic Management Group is designated as Deputy Task Force Commander.
A coordinating conference was held at the PNP National Headquarters on Monday to draw-up the organization of the Functional Staff that will compose the Special Task Force, and the role of other PNP Units.
Present during the conference were representatives from PNP Directorial Staff and National Support Units, representatives from the trucking and cargo industry, and some corporate executives from multi-national corporations operating in the country.
According to its organizational structure, the Special Task Force will have its own staff that will handle administrative and logistics functions, intelligence and investigation, operations and police community relations.
The Special Task Force will have Task Groups in the Police Regional Offices to be headed by the Deputy Regional Director for Operations, with the Chief of the Regional Traffic Management Office as his deputy.
PNP records indicate that from January 1 to December 23 this year, some P42-million worth of commercial cargo was lost to highway robbers in 29 reported cases of hijacking.
The latest hijacking incident was pulled-off in Dasmariñas, Cavite involving a delivery van of Federal Express that was transporting 128 boxes of integrated circuits (IC) worth P300,000.00.
From January to October this year, the PNP arrested 25 suspected hijackers and killed three others in separate encounters.
Among the initial actions of the Special Task Force are:
- To convene an Order of Battle workshop that will identify the 20 Most Wanted hijackers, and keep tab of other groups and personalities engaged in the hijacking.
- To make an inventory of the status of cases of hijacking incidents.
- The assignment of two lawyers from the PNP Legal Service to assist the Special Task Force in the prosecution of cases.
- To maintain a database of truck drivers and helpers from Truckers’ Associations.
Coordination with the Insurance Comission, MICP, Trusckers’ Associations, NLEX and SLEX management, and other cargo forwarding companies.
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