Kidnapping, drug bust, or traffic altercation?

Was it a case of kidnapping-for-ransom, a legitimate anti-drugs operation or a simple traffic altercation? This were the questions operatives of the Western Police District (WPD) had to reckon with when they received conflicting reports about a Chinese businessman, who was initially reported to have been abducted in Binondo, Manila yesterday afternoon.

Elements of the WPD were initially sent on a wild goose chase trying to save Chinese businessman Wang Hui Huang from car-riding men, who reportedly abducted him at the corner of Dasmariñas and Marquina streets, near Escolta in Binondo, at around 2:38 p.m.

According to Senior Police Officer 4 Victor Agdigos, desk officer of the WPD Station 11 (Binondo area), they received a telephone call from a man who reported the alleged abduction.

Agdigos told The STAR that the witness identified the supposed victim as Hwen Huan Hong, who later turned out to be Wang Hui Huang. "We have sent policemen to the area to verify the incident and rescue the victim," he said.

Agdigos, however, could not give more details about the incident, saying the investigators were still in the field.

But when The STAR contacted the WPD-Tactical Operations Center, SPO3 Ed Faustino clarified that the incident was not a kidnapping-for-ransom but a legitimate operation of the anti-drugs police.

Faustino admitted that they initially thought it was a case of kidnapping-for-ransom because of the report of a witness, who could have mistaken the operation of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group — Task Force Dragon for a kidnapping case.

"It’s a good thing we discovered that Task Force Dragon had coordinated with the WPD main office for an anti-drugs operation in Binondo area," Faustino added.

But the CIDG operation was not properly coordinated with the Binondo police station and resulted in further miscommunication.

Tension later died down after a progress report from the WPD-Tactical Operations Center revealed that the CIDG was conducting a police operation.

But later it was learned that the case involved a mere traffic altercation between Wang and SPO2 Nestor Urbano of the WPD-Civil Disturbance Unit.

Superintendent Ferdinand Ampil, chief of the WPD-Intelligence Unit said they could not understand why the case was blown out of proportion but said the case will be investigated. — Cecille Suerte Felipe