Police are now focusing their manhunt operations against the remnants of the Ivan Padilla carjacking syndicate following the death of their leader in a shootout with police on Monday morning.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Spokesperson Superintendent Rommel Miranda, said Tuesday that police are particularly looking for a number of "pretty girls" that the group allegedly uses to get “access” to their potential victims.

Miranda said the female members of the group are as young as or even younger than their slain leader, 23-year old Ivan Padilla. Apparently, one of them is spewing vital information via micro-blogging website “Twitter.”

“According to our research, one of the female suspects has a Twitter account. She’s mentioned some things related to the crime,” Miranda said, adding that many of the women they identified come from well-off families.

“In some cases, the group uses its female members to befriend potential victims. They would attend bars, parties and other social gatherings,” the official said.

He said Padilla, who came from a broken family, initially dipped his hands in petty crimes as a 19-year-old and then developed into a full-blown criminal gang leader involved in robberies, car theft and illegal drugs.

Padilla died at the Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) after he engaged elements of the Regional Police Intelligence Operations Unit-Anti-Carnapping Unit (RPIOU-ANCAR) in a firefight early Monday morning in Makati City.

His companion, Mark Inducil, surrendered to the police.

The operation came days after Padilla allegedly escaped an entrapment in Quezon City, where two of his companions, Dale Alimagno, 22 and Glenn de Castillo, 31, were arrested.

The NCRPO said the Padilla group is behind the carjacking incident at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City last week where the Toyota Camry (ZLN-415) owned by former Foreign Affairs Secretary Roberto Romulo and the Toyota Innova (ZCE-378) of Japanese businessman Koji Hasegawa were stolen.

Authorities are also looking at the possible involvement of the group in the carjacking of the sports utility vehicle (SUV) owned by actor-model Derek Ramsay’s father in Tagaytay City.