Abducted Chinese exec escapes from kidnappers

Valenzuela City police rescued a Chinese manager of a noodle factory in the city after he reportedly escaped Thursday afternoon from his alleged Chinese abductors in Bulacan.

Superintendent Jose Marcelo, Valenzuela City police chief, said that Alex Chua, 41, of St. Michael Subdivision in Meycauayan, Bulacan, was snatched by at least four armed Chinese speaking men while he was about to enter his house at around 7 p.m. on Jan. 7.

"The victim himself can’t speak Filipino, but through an interpreter we were able to extract some information from him," Marcelo said yesterday.

Marcelo said his men, led by Inspector Salvador de la Cruz, were in a routine patrol along McArthur Highway in Barangay Marulas when Chua, his left hand still in a handcuff, approached the police prawl car and sought the lawmen’s help.

Marcelo said that according to Chua, his armed abductors forced him to their getaway vehicle and while inside was blindfolded by the suspects and brought to their hideout somewhere in Bulacan. During the victim’s more than two weeks in captivity, his abductors reportedly forced him to contact through a mobile phone his Filipina wife and his twin brother in China to seek ransom from them but failed.

Chua, Marcelo said, told the police that his abductors moved him to at least four places during his captivity but everytime they moved from one place to another the suspects blindfolded him.

Once in their lair, the suspects always put the victim in a handcuff attached to his bed. But at around 2 p.m. Thursday, Chua reportedly asked his abductors who were having a siesta to allow him to relieve himself.

The suspects reportedly acceded to the request and Chua took the opportunity to escape by running to a highway where he was able to hitchhike in a passing Tamarax FX car.

Upon reaching a populated area, which the victim could not reportedly recall where, he transferred to a passenger jeep en route to Monumento in Caloocan City. The jeepney passed by a Valenzuela police car in a highway wherein Chua sought for the police help.

The victim reportedly suffered bruises and contusions from his abductors and his leg fractured during his escape.

"He is now safe and is confined in a hospital under the care of his own family," Marcelo said.