NAKTF chief Angelo Reyes said Feliciano Laygo, who carried a P500,000 bounty for his capture, was arrested after an informant tipped off lawmen that he was seeking refuge at the house of a relative in Barangay Lagalag in Tiaong.
Laygo was promptly arrested by combined NAKTF agents, the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the San Pablo City, Laguna police.
NAKTF spokesman Col. Danilo Servando said lawmen seized a caliber .45 automatic and a Thompson submachine gun from Laygo.
"We received reports that he’s been visiting his relatives in Tiaong since last month and after a series of stake out operations, (we) were able to confirm reports that he has been frequenting his parents’ house in nearby Barangay Tagbakin," he said.
Servando said Laygo was not able to resist arrest when lawmen surrounded his hideout about 2 a.m.
Laygo was arrested on Aug. 5, 1999 for kidnapping the son of an affluent businessman in San Juan, Batangas. He escaped later from the Quezon City jail with five other detainees.
A rogues’ gallery distributed nationwide by NAKTF identified Laygo as the sixth most wanted kidnap-for-ransom suspect in the country.
Laygo is also wanted for the kidnapping of businessman Mason Ang on April 3, 2003; Petronila Lanting on April 30, 2003; Danilo Tiu on May 23, 2003 and Rubilyn Chua on Aug. 23, 2003, police said.
"He is the leader of the Laygo kidnap group behind several kidnappings in Metro Manila and nearby provinces," Servando said.
Laygo was 13th of NAKTF’s 24 most wanted kidnappers to fall in recent days.
Only 11 remain at large, among them brothers Harold and Rolando Fajardo who both carry P1 million bounty for their arrest.
Another suspect who carries a million-peso reward for his capture is former policemen Allan Estrada, tagged as the third most wanted.
The Fajardo brothers were allegedly involved in the abduction of Japanese Noboyuki Wakaoji, a Mitsui and Co. executive, from a golf course in Canlubang town, Laguna, in 1986.
Earlier this week, the 13th most wanted kidnapper, Ambrudin Macasilang, was arrested by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Marawi City.
Last Feb. 15, NAKTF agents captured the country’s eighth most wanted kidnapper during a raid on his hideout in Quezon City.
Teddy Padre, who carries a P500,000 bounty on his head, was arrested in a house along Commonwealth Avenue on the strength of a warrant issued by the Pasay City regional trial court.
On Jan. 3, police arrested Franco Artoza in Jaro, Leyte. He was the seventh suspect in last November’s kidnapping and murder of Coca-Cola executive Betti Chua Sy.
The arrest of Artoza came after police picked up another gangman, Fernando Niegos, on New Year’s Day in another house in the same area.
Padre was the ninth kidnap gang leader to be arrested by NAKTF in December.
Roberto Yap, a medical doctor who headed a gang that preyed mostly on rich Chinese-Filipino families, was killed in late November.
NAKTF agents have also captured Allan Niegas, the fourth most wanted kidnapper, Dec. 4 last year; Vilmore Catamco, No. 5, Dec. 3; Joselim Amuco, No. 7, Dec. 15; Reynaldo Cachi, No. 8, Jan. 24; Joer Abonales, No. 15, Jan. 27; Ronnie Tan, No. 12, Feb. 8, and Arnel Suellen, No. 17, who was arrested last Feb. 12.
Authorities also announced the arrest of an alleged member of the bandit group Abu Sayyaf who reportedly confessed to kidnapping American Jeffrey Schilling four years ago.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said Alkis Asari Alih, 28, also known as Abu Jarin, was arrested last Saturday in Zamboanga City.