Three suspected carnappers who allegedly victimize vehicle rental outfits, were arrested in Bacolod City yesterday, the police said.

Cesar Rala, 56, Helen Grace Morales, 35, and Monita Marie Hilado, 53, were nabbed by Police Station 8 and Bacolod City Police Office Intelligence and Investigation Division members at about 3:30 p.m. yesterday, Police Station 8 commander, Senior Inspector Placido Gentoleo, said.

The three were cornered near the Luxur’s Place at Magsaysay Avenue, Bacolod, during a joint hot-pursuit operation, by Police Station 8 members SPO1’s Regie Atienza and Edwin Cardenas and BCPO-IIB operatives SPO4 Cesar del Carmen and SPO3 Gilbert Linda.

Rala, who gave two addresses – one in Daet, Camarines Norte and another in Antipolo, Rizal, Morales of Makati City, and Hilado of Capitol Heights Subdivision, Bacolod, allegedly tried to run away with the Mitsubishi Adventure of Jessie Jimenez when they were apprehended, Gentoleo said.

Jimenez, owner of the Meca J rent-a-car establishment at the Goldenfields Commercial Complex in Bacolod, told the police that he was negotiating with the suspects when they fled with his vehicle.

Mauro Zorro, Wilfredo Apelyido, and Mariano Ontalan, who also operate vehicle rental businesses in Bacolod, later identified Rala, Morales, and Hilado, as the ones who also victimized them a few months ago, Gentoleo said.

Zorro’s Toyota Altis and Nissan Urvan were rented by the suspects and were later returned but the vehicles’ parts had been replaced and some were missing, he added.

Ontalan, meanwhile, told police probers that he had also leased his Nissan Urvan to the three and it was returned later also with different parts.

Gentoleo said they are still working to recover Apelyido’s two Nissan Urvans that were reportedly left by the alleged carnappers in Cebu City.

He said that Rala, Morales, and Hilado, who also operates a rent-a-car outfit in Bacolod, had been uncooperative during their investigation and even denied the allegations against them.

Gentoleo said they are preparing carnapping, qualified theft, and estafa charges against the three.*PP

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