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)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Police rescue abducted salesman in Lanao Sur
Monday, September 06, 2010
Lanao's most wanted man killed!
MARAWI CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 6, 2010) – Police forces killed a bandit leader tagged as behind the kidnapping of a Muslim trader and the spate of attacks on commuter buses in the southern Philippines.
Police said Khalid Pansar was killed in a firefight in the village of Lumbac in Lanao del Sur’s Pualas town. The fighting broke out after police forces tried to arrest Pansar, shot and killed a Muslim preacher, Ustadz Andalawan Salic in the village.
Pansar clashed with policemen in a running gun battle that lasted almost an hour, said Senior Superintendent Cosanie Derogongan, the provincial police chief.
“PNP elements immediately responded and engaged in a firefight that ensued for almost an hour that resulted to the death of Khalid Pansar, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the different parts of his body,” Derogongan said, referring to police forces.
He said Pansar was Lanao del Sur’s most wanted man. He was also tagged as behind the series of highway robberies and the August 31 kidnapping of Abdulkarim Magarang in Marawi City.
“Further investigation disclosed that Khalid Pansar was engaged in a series of highway robbery, hold-ups along the Narciso Ramos Highway and alleged involvement in the abduction of Abdulcarim Magarang in Marawi City and burning of Rural Transit in Kapatagan town in Lanao del Norte,” Derogongan said.
He was referring to the August 26 attack on a provincial bus that left four people dead, including two policemen. Gunmen in police uniform flagged down the bus in Kapatagan town and shot its driver and his conductor and the policemen who were among the passengers.
The bus came from Cagayan de Oro City and was bound for Zamboanga City when the attack occurred. The motive of the attack was unknown.
Last year, gunmen also strafed a passenger jeep and killed and wounded at least six people on a highway near Tagoloan town in Lanao del Norte. (With a report from Becky de Asis)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Gunmen seize Muslim trader in Marawi City
Police said the Abdulkarim Magarang, 42, was on a pedicab when gunmen seized him in the village called Lilod Madaya at around 6 a.m.
“We are still investigating the motive of the abduction,” said Senior Superintendent Cosanie Derogongan, the provincial police chief.
He said the gunmen dragged Magarang to a waiting car and sped off. No group or individual claimed responsibility for the abduction.
It was the second abduction in Marawi City since June this year after gunmen also seized Nuraldin Yusoph, 22, son of Elections Commissioner Elias Yusoph. The young Yusoph was freed weeks later after ransom was allegedly paid to his captors. (Becky de Asis)
Saturday, August 21, 2010
2 students killed in attack outside school in Mindanao
ILIGAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 21, 2010) – Unidentified gunmen killed two students Saturday in a broad daylight attack just in front of the government-run Mindanao State University in Marawi City in the Muslim province of Lanao del Sur, police said.
Police said the gunmen who were on a jeep shot the duo - Mark Anthony Ticson, 21, and Ever Sosillo, 17 – both engineering students. Provincial police chief Cosanie Derogongan has ordered an investigation into the killings and deployed policemen to hunt down the gunmen.
The victims came from an Internet café and were on their way home when gunmen attacked them. Derogongan said Ticson sustained one gunshot wound in his chest while Sosillo was hit in the head.
The motive of the attack was unknown, the police chief said. (Merlyn Manos)