Veteran newsman loses van’s side mirrors to thieves

SAN JOSE CITY, Nueva Ecija, July 18, 2011-A veteran correspondent of People’s Journal and People’s Tonight of a daily tabloid was a victim of unidentified thieves when the two side mirrors of his Nissan Navara pick-up were carted away along the national highway here Friday night.

The victim Steve Gosuico revealed that he parked his vehicle, with license plate NXQ-378 along the Maharlika highway in Barangay Malasin at around 8:30 in the evening to take dinner at a nearby Magellan and Bar Restaurant with wife Annabelle when the incident happened.   

Gosuico said before the thieves struck, he parked the vehicle alongside other cars at an adjacent lot fronting the nearby Marquez Restaurant since Magellan’s parking area was already fully occupied.

When the couple left the resto-bar at around 10:30 pm Friday, they were aghast to find out that their pick-up’s left and right side mirrors were missing and apparently detached and stolen by unknown suspects.

“This incident was made worse by the lax security at the resto-bar,” Gosuico said, saying that when he reported it to Meliton Aglibo, Magellan bar owner, who called security guard on duty, identified as Mark Bautista, the latter said he noticed nothing unusual happening in the parking lot.

At this juncture, the couple decided to report it to the San Jose City police station. The police investigator said that their case was not an isolated one since side mirror-hacking has become the latest craze among car hackers lately.

Gosuico said that cannibalized side mirrors and its assembly parts, especially of SUVs and pick-ups, command a stiff price in surplus stores in Metro Manila and other so-called ‘chop-chop’ car shops in Central Luzon. (Jason de Asis)