NBI foils kidnap try on casino financier

MANILA, Philippines - National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents foiled an attempt to kidnap a Chinese casino financier in Manila before dawn yesterday.

Gerald Domingo, Mary Jane San Martin, Emmanuel Yance de Jesus and Edwin de Castro were arrested after a brief shootout with NBI agents.

De Castro was reported to be in critical condition at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center.

Two other suspects – only known as Benjie and Randy – escaped.

The NBI agents set up a stakeout after receiving an intelligence report that a group headed by “Gerald” planned to kidnap Flor Ty, a casino financier at the Manila Pavilion casino on United Nations Avenue in Ermita. The operation was done by agents of the NBI’s Anti-Organized Crime Division, headed by Rommel Vallejo.

According to the intelligence report, Gerald’s group would kidnap Ty between 2 and 3 a.m. while she was on her way home to Sta. Cruz and then demand P20 million as ransom.

At around 3 a.m., armed men in a red Ford Lynx (XSV-574) blocked Ty’s black car and ordered her driver to open the door as one of the men boarded Ty’s car. Domingo and San Martin were tailing Ty’s car in a Mitsubishi Lancer (VIE-999).

The NBI agents accosted the suspects, who shot at them, starting a gunfight. The suspects boarded their vehicles but the NBI agents gave chase and later apprehended four of them.

Ty herself is safe, the NBI said.

The NBI said the four suspects will be charged with attempted kidnapping, frustrated homicide, illegal possession of firearms and violating the election gun ban before the city prosecutor’s office.