ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 21, 2010) – Government troops rescued Monday a kidnapped Chinese-Filipino trader in a daring raid on a hideout in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said four gang members were captured in the raid in Talon-Talon village where Vinton So was recovered at around 3:30 p.m. The raiders, led by Colonel Santiago Baluyot, commander of an anti-terror task force, swooped down on the gang’s hideout and rescued the 47-year old junk shop owner without firing any shots.
“It was quick. The kidnappers were surprised by the raid and we rescued Vinton So without any shots fired,” Baluyot said, adding, the rescue was part of an intelligence operation with the police.
He said the four kidnappers – two of them women – were being investigated if they have links with the Abu Sayyaf rebels, whose group is tied with the al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya, blamed for the spate of kidnappings and terrorism in the restive region.
“Most of the kidnappers are from Jolo (town) in Sulu (province) and we still don’t know if they have links or members of the Abu Sayyaf. They are still being interrogated,” Santiago said.
Gunmen abducted So inside his junk shop in the village of Santa Maria on Sunday afternoon, but his family only reported the incident later in the day.
So was among several prominent people kidnapped this year in Zamboanga City where suspected Abu Sayyaf militants also seized Vicente Barrios, a fish pond operator; and Charlie Reith, a land owner. Both had been freed in exchange for ransoms.
Dozens of traders and businessmen in Zamboanga said they have also received threats from kidnappers and urged authorities to put efforts in protecting them.
Several people were also kidnapped in Zamboanga City in recent years and were released after their families paid huge ransoms.
Suspected Abu Sayyaf kidnappers are also holding two Malaysian seaweed farmers and have demanded two million ringgits in exchange for their safe release.
The duo - Tsen Vui Chung, 42, and his cousin Lai Wing Chau, 33, - were seized in February from their farm in the island of Pulau Sebangkit in Sabah and were taken to Tawi-Tawi province in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
Showing posts with label Kidnappings-for-ransom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kidnappings-for-ransom. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Troops rescue kidnapped Zamboanga junk shop owner
Monday, September 20, 2010
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Kidnapped Filipino boy freed in Maguindanao province
COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 8, 2009) – Kidnappers released a Filipino boy after more than a week in captivity in the southern Philippines.
John Kyle Chongson, 4, was seized in Cotabato City on June 26 and free late Tuesday in Maguindanao’s Datu Odin Sinsuat town. Police tagged the Pentagon Gang as behind the kidnapping.
Police forces recovered the boy alone at a remote village after receiving information that he was freed. The boy is the son of a rice dealer.
It was unknown if ransom was paid but reports said the kidnappers originally demanded P15 million for the boy’s liberty. Police said no ransom was paid.
The Moro Islamic Liberation said it is holding one of Chiongson’s captors - Mohaimin Abo - who was said to be the mastermind of the kidnapping.
Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said Abo is being investigated by a rebel court for his involvement in the kidnapping. “He is currently under detention and being investigated for his role in the kidnapping of the boy,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
The military linked by the MILF to the boy’s kidnapping, but Kabalu denied his group was involved. “That’s why Abo was arrested by the MILF after we learned about his involvement,” Kabalu said.
Kabalu also admitted that Abo has a relative who are members of the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for self-determination in Mindanao.
Police also blamed the Pentagon Gang for two previous kidnappings in Cotabato City this year. (Mindanao Examiner)
John Kyle Chongson, 4, was seized in Cotabato City on June 26 and free late Tuesday in Maguindanao’s Datu Odin Sinsuat town. Police tagged the Pentagon Gang as behind the kidnapping.
Police forces recovered the boy alone at a remote village after receiving information that he was freed. The boy is the son of a rice dealer.
It was unknown if ransom was paid but reports said the kidnappers originally demanded P15 million for the boy’s liberty. Police said no ransom was paid.
The Moro Islamic Liberation said it is holding one of Chiongson’s captors - Mohaimin Abo - who was said to be the mastermind of the kidnapping.
Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said Abo is being investigated by a rebel court for his involvement in the kidnapping. “He is currently under detention and being investigated for his role in the kidnapping of the boy,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
The military linked by the MILF to the boy’s kidnapping, but Kabalu denied his group was involved. “That’s why Abo was arrested by the MILF after we learned about his involvement,” Kabalu said.
Kabalu also admitted that Abo has a relative who are members of the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for self-determination in Mindanao.
Police also blamed the Pentagon Gang for two previous kidnappings in Cotabato City this year. (Mindanao Examiner)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
MILF orders rebel forces to fight kidnappings-for-ransom in South RP
SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 30, 2009) – The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has ordered its 12,000-strong mujahideen to fight kidnapping-for-ransom activities in Mindanao.
It also ordered rebel forces to arrest and take drastic actions against kidnappers in areas where the MILF is actively operating. It was the second order in seven years that the MILF told rebels to fight kidnappings-for-ransom.
Police and military authorities have accused rogue MILF members of either coddling kidnappers or themselves involved in the nefarious activities in Mindanao to raise fund for the purchase of weapons or finance their secessionist campaign.
“The Central Committee of the MILF directs its freedom fighters comprising the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces to arrest and take drastic actions against the perpetrators of this heinous crime until these criminal activities are neutralized and stopped in MILF areas,” said an MILF order signed on Monday by the Front’s chief of staff, Sammy Al-Mansur.
“Anti-kidnapping task force is hereby organized for this purpose. For strict compliance and implementation,” it further said.
The order was also signed by Ghazali Jaafar, the MILF’s vice chairman for political affairs.
Authorities said Moro rebels were behind the kidnappings of wealthy traders, including an Italian priest, Luciano Benedetti, in Zamboanga del Norte province in 1998. Benedetti, 52, was held for nearly 10 weeks until he was freed in exchange for a huge government ransom.
It also ordered rebel forces to arrest and take drastic actions against kidnappers in areas where the MILF is actively operating. It was the second order in seven years that the MILF told rebels to fight kidnappings-for-ransom.
Police and military authorities have accused rogue MILF members of either coddling kidnappers or themselves involved in the nefarious activities in Mindanao to raise fund for the purchase of weapons or finance their secessionist campaign.
“The Central Committee of the MILF directs its freedom fighters comprising the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces to arrest and take drastic actions against the perpetrators of this heinous crime until these criminal activities are neutralized and stopped in MILF areas,” said an MILF order signed on Monday by the Front’s chief of staff, Sammy Al-Mansur.
“Anti-kidnapping task force is hereby organized for this purpose. For strict compliance and implementation,” it further said.
The order was also signed by Ghazali Jaafar, the MILF’s vice chairman for political affairs.
Authorities said Moro rebels were behind the kidnappings of wealthy traders, including an Italian priest, Luciano Benedetti, in Zamboanga del Norte province in 1998. Benedetti, 52, was held for nearly 10 weeks until he was freed in exchange for a huge government ransom.
In 2001, renegade MILF rebels also snatched Fr Giuseppe Pierantoni as the 44-year-old from Bologna said mass in the parish church of Dimataling town in Zamboanga del Sur. The priest was freed after six months in captivity in exchange for an unspecified ransom, but he claimed to have escaped from his kidnappers. His companions claimed he suffered from Stockholm syndrome, a phenomenon in which a hostage begins to identify with and grow sympathetic to his or her captor.
Kidnappings-for-ransom has become a lucrative business for rebels and criminal syndicates in Mindanao, where many areas are underdeveloped and job opportunities are scarce. Sometimes criminal gangs kidnapped civilians and hand them over to rebels in exchange for a cut in the ransom. Poverty has been blamed for many kidnappings in the South.
Kidnappings-for-ransom has become a lucrative business for rebels and criminal syndicates in Mindanao, where many areas are underdeveloped and job opportunities are scarce. Sometimes criminal gangs kidnapped civilians and hand them over to rebels in exchange for a cut in the ransom. Poverty has been blamed for many kidnappings in the South.
In February 2002, the MILF also issued a similar order after Manila sought its help in running after kidnappers in the southern Philippines. President Gloria Arroyo, who opened peace talks with the MILF in 2001, also signed a truce with rebels.
And in 2004, the MILF forged an agreement with Manila that paved the way for rebel forces through the ad-hoc joint action group to help government hunt down terrorists and criminal elements in areas where the rebel group is actively operating.
But peace talks collapsed in August last year after the MILF accused Arroyo of reneging on a preliminary Muslim homeland deal. The Supreme Court said the agreement which was initially signed in Malaysia in July 2008 is unconstitutional.
Since then, fighting between military and rebel forces continue. The MILF said it will not resume peace talks unless Arroyo honors the ancestral domain deal. Arroyo is to step down next year without any significant deal with the MILF. (Mindanao Examiner)
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