Another Indian trader kidnapped in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO - Gunmen disguised as soldiers kidnapped an Indian investor in Parang town on Wednesday night, the second Indian trader abducted in Central Mindanao since October 31.

Chief Superintendent Noel delos Reyes, regional police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, identified the kidnapped merchant as Krishan Singh Arora, 54.

Arora was abducted at the premises of a supposedly tightly-guarded seaside Eversun plywood factory in Barangay Sarmiento in southwest of Parang.

The trader was trying to reopen the factory after having been abandoned for about a decade now by its original Korean owners due to management problems.

“His abductors were wearing camouflage uniforms,” Delos Reyes told reporters.

Arora has been staying at the Eversun compound since he acquired control of the property several months ago.

Local officials said Arora was trying to organize a local group to operate the plywood factory.

Delos Reyes said the kidnappers arrived at the Eversun compound 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, took him at gunpoint and disappeared in pitch darkness.

“The Parang municipal police received a call telling about the incident at 9:20 p.m. of Wednesday,” Delos Reyes said.

Barangay Sarmiento is about four kilometres from the town proper of Parang, where the ARMM’s regional police headquarters is located.

Arora was snatched just 13 days after gunmen kidnapped in nearby Cotabato City Indian businessman Mike Khemani.

Khemani operates a department store in Cotabato City, the Sugni Superstore, which has branches in Kabacan town in North Cotabato and in Kidapawan City.

Khemani’s abductors first gunned down his bodyguard and wounded another before they spirited him to a riverside area using a black getaway car.

Nothing has been heard since about the whereabouts of Khemani and his captors.