The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Monday released the artist’s sketches of four men involved in the strafing of the house of Social Security System (SSS) president Romulo Neri.

Chief Inspector Benjamin Elenzano, deputy chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD-CIDU) said yesterday one of those in the sketches was only identified as a certain Robert Romo while the rest have yet to be identified.

Elenzano said that Romo was identified as the one who paid a downpayment of P105,000 to a warehouse used by the suspects in Barangay Manresa, Quezon City. The other suspect was seen guarding the warehouse.

The police official said the rest of the suspects were among those who carjacked the silver and blue Hyundai vans used by the armed men in strafing the house of Neri in Barangay Siena in Quezon City last Friday morning. Both vans have come from Pampanga. The two Hyundai vans were later recovered by police after being left abandoned just five blocks away from Neri’s home.

Elenzano said the driver of the red van had been held in the warehouse in Barangay Manresa but managed to escape and report the carjacking to the QCPD.

“Definitely the group was well funded and organized or could be creating the impression that they are so,” said Supt. Nestor Abalos, chief of the District Intelligence Division (DID) of the QCPD.

He cited that the preparations made and the costs involved used a lot of money.

The driver of the red van, who was able to provide the artist’s sketch of one of the four suspects, said that two men had asked to rent the van in Pampanga and bring them to Metro Manila. He was only able to recall the face of one of the men and provide an artist sketch.

Elenzano said the abduction happened at 5 a.m. Friday when the red van reached Quezon City. The driver was blindfolded and brought in the warehouse in Manresa.

After the strafing of Neri’s house happened at 9 a.m., the driver of the red van managed to escape the warehouse at 2 p.m. the same day.

Using the information from the driver of the red van, Elenzano said that investigators were able to locate the warehouse in Manresa and learned that a certain Romo had paid for its use.

The police official said that they were able to find witnesses who described in an artist’s sketch a man who was believed guarding the warehouse.

Elenzano said a similar modus operandi was used against the driver of the silver Hyundai van.

The driver of the silver van recounted that two men had also asked that they be brought from Pampanga to Metro Manila. The driver was only able to recall the face of one of the men.

The two men commandeered the silver van at 12:15 a.m. Friday in Bacolor, Pampanga and blindfolded the driver who was believed brought to another warehouse.

At 7:30 a.m. Friday, the driver of the silver van was moved out and released in a remote area in Guagua, Pampanga.