Early police response foiled the attempt of four armed men to hijack an oil tanker loaded with 20,000 liters of crude oil and unleaded gasoline in Sariaya, Quezon.
A report from the Quezon Police Provincial Office said the incident happened at around 11:30 p.m. on June 14 when two armed men suddenly boarded the tanker being driven by 28-year old Eman Dizon who had just maneuvered the tanker out of the oil depot in Barangay Castañas in Sariaya town.
Local investigators later identified those who boarded the tanker as 31-year old Vincent Reyes and Philip Magtanggol.
Dizon told the investigators that he was forced to obey the instructions of the two suspects as they threatened to shoot him.
The tanker was loaded with 10,000 liters of crude oil and 10,000 liters of unleaded gasoline according to Dizon.
When they reached the Eco Tourism Road, the suspects allegedly blindfolded and hogtied Dizon before abandoning him alongside the road. After managing to untie himself, he later approached patrolling policemen and narrated the incident.
Pursuit operations were then launched which resulted in the recovery of the oil tanker along Eco Tourism Road in Barangay Manggalang Bantilan in Sariaya.
Police said only the dashcam of the oil tanker was missing.
Police said they identified two more suspects as a certain Joli and a certain Joey. All the four suspects were identified through a cellular phone recovered in the area where they jumped out the oil tanker after seeing the police cars chasing them.