Police: Cordillera’s ‘most wanted’ carjacker falls

Police on Sunday claimed to have busted over the weekend the “Baguio connection" of the notorious Dominguez carnapping group with the arrest of a suspect. Karl Michael Laranang, 26, described in a police statement as “one of Cordillera’s most wanted carjackers," was arrested outside Baguio City Justice Hall after reporting to his probation officer, said Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, head of the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG). “The arrest culminated weeks of manhunt operations against Laranang," an HPG statement quoted Espina as saying. Espina said the arresting officers seized from Laranang, who is now detained at the Baguio City Jail, dried marijuana leaves wrapped in foil. Laranang is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by Judge Cleto Villacorta III of Baguio Regional Trial Court Branch 6 for violation of Republic Act 6539 or the Anti-Carnapping Act of 1972. Police records show that Laranang was first arrested in 2009 for illegal possession of a handgun at a mall in Baguio City, a criminal offense for which he applied for probation.

On June 29, 2010, Laranang and his group allegedly robbed the house of a religious lay minister along Pinsao Road and looted valuables worth P500,000 including the victim’s Mitsubishi Pajero SUV. Days after that, Laranang was reportedly spotted in Pangasinan looking for a buyer of the stolen SUV. Police operatives eventually recovered the vehicle in La Union and filed a case against Laranang and other unidentified suspects. HPG spokesman Superintendent Edwin Butacan said Laranang and his group is listed in their Order of Battle of carnapping syndicates affiliated with the Rolan Rofal Group operating in Baguio City. In a recent carnapping case involving the Rolan Rofal Group, Laranang reportedly provided Rolan Rofal with government car plates issued to his stepmother who is reportedly a government employee. Butacan said a link diagram prepared by HPG investigators shows the Rolan Rofal Group is closely linked with the Central Luzon-based Dominguez Gang through common associates, gang members and business contacts. “The Rolan Rofal Group operating in Baguio City and Northern Luzon employ the signature modus operandi of the Dominguez Gang of running off with cars offered for sale during test drive," Butacan said. The Dominguez group — including its alleged leaders, brothers Raymond and Roger Dominguez — has been implicated in the killings of Emerson Lozano, his driver Ernani Sencil; and Venson Evangelista. The charred bodies of the three were found in different areas in Central Luzon last month. Both Lozano and Evangelista were car traders. - KBK, GMA News Online