CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga – Government agents rescued a Pakistani and a Filipino companion snatched Friday by a suspected kidnap-for-ransom gang in Bagac town in Bataan province, Central Luzon police authorities announced Sunday.
The arrests were implemented using state-of-art and advanced technology which led to the arrest of seven suspects, said police.
Chief Superintendent Leonilo de la Cruz, Central Luzon police chief, identified the victims as Yasser Irfan, 26, a businessman and resident of Doña Angelina Subdivision in Barangay Tenejero in Balanga City and Ramon Becares, an employee of the Pakistani national.
It was not mentioned in the report what type of business Yasser is into.
The report said the victims were on board a motorcycle and was last seen cruising along Governor Linao Highway in Bagac town, when a red Asian Utility Vehicle occupied by heavily-armed men blocked them and at gunpoint herded them to the vehicle leaving behind the motorcycle of the victims.
Police said one of the suspects allowed Yasser to call some of his friends for them to inform his father, Mohammed Munir Tahir.
Tahir, police said, told Bataan police that the suspects were demanding P5 million in exchange for the safe release of the two victims.
Senior Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan, Bataan police chief, immediately sought the assistance of Camp Crame’s Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) unit.
Using advanced technology to detect the location of the suspects, Gaerlan said, PACER and local police went to the negotiations as the suspects was initially demanding P5 million.
Gaerlan said the demand was further lowered to P400,000. He said the suspects and Yasser father settled in that amount and agreed that the pay-off be made in Barangay Bacoong in Dinalupihan town.
Police said the place for the ransom pay-off was picked by one of the suspects.
Moments after the pay-off, police said, Yasser father received a phone call informing him that his son and the driver would be found along Roman Highway in Barangay Mambaga in Hermosa town in Bataan.
Government agents said they rushed to the area and found the victims stuffed in an abandoned tricycle there.
After several hours of evaluating all the information fed into the their high-tech gadgets, police said, they launched an assault in several places in Bataan that resulted to the arrest of the suspects.
Police identified them as brothers Sasenado Martin, Gallardo Martin, Nestor Juliano, Renato Obidosa, Leonardo Alingcastre, Ramil Calma and Christina Mendoza, wife of an Indian national Bootah Singh who is allegedly involved in several kidnappings in Bataan.
Police also said that they have also recovered part of the ransom money from the suspects.
The suspects were brought by PACER operatives to Camp Crame for further investigation.
Criminal cases are being readied for filing in court against the suspects.-Jess Malabanan
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