Kidnap gang leader nabbed

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Combined operatives of the Philippine National Police and the elite Marine Battalion Landing Team 1 arrested on Christmas Day a kidnap gang leader implicated in the abduction of several traders in Central Mindanao in recent years.

The suspect, Guiaman Esmael Manda, also known as “Boy Timako,” was also tagged as behind more than a dozen killings here which he allegedly perpetrated for a fee.

Manda was nabbed, along with his son, Jing Kamdan Manda, also wanted for heinous offenses, in a raid at their hideout in Barangay Bulibod in nearby Sultan Kudarat.

Manda tried to resist arrest, but was immediately subdued by the raiding team, comprised of operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, members of the MBLT-1 and the police’s 15th Regional Intelligence Unit, which has jurisdiction over ARMM.

Manda and his son has standing criminal cases in local courts.

Manda’s cohorts managed to escape when they sensed that CIDG agents and combat-ready Marines, on board rubber boats, have started approaching their riverside hideout.