Police rescue abducted salesman in Lanao Sur

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 20, 2010) – Police rescued an abducted pharmaceutical salesman after two days in captivity in the southern Philippines, officials said on Wednesday.

Officials said police forces recovered Jeffrey Almonia in the town of Lumba Bayabao in Lanao del Sur on Tuesday, but his captors managed to escape. The 29-year old salesman was seized by three men in Cagayan de Oro City on Sunday.

Almonia was paying his cousin’s debt to the men when the trio seized him and his car and brought him to Lanao del Sur. Police said the men initially demanded fifty thousand pesos for his freedom, according to Superintendent Cosanie Derogongan, the provincial police chief.

Derogongan said police learned about the abduction after receiving information from civilians about the location of the hostage. He said Almonia was still in handcuff inside his car when policemen rescued him.

He said initial investigation showed the trio abducted Almonia after his cousin owed the men drug money. “The abduction was the result of an illegal transactions allegedly entered into by his cousin and the abductors,” Derogongan said. (Merlyn Manos)