German recounts kidnapping by ‘spike and rob’gang

CEBU CITY (AFP) — A German pensioner complained to police yesterday that he was abducted by members of a gang who spiked his drink, took him to an island and robbed him.

Herman Jendreiek, 56, was recovering from exhaustion at a hospital in this city after his six-day ordeal, Superintendent Edwin Diocos of the Cebu police told reporters.

Jendreiek, a retired contractor who lives in a Cebu suburb with his Filipina girlfriend, disappeared from the Cebu pier on Sept. 14 after getting off a ferry from the nearby island of Bohol, Diocos said. Witnesses saw him drinking beer with a woman.

Jendreiek told police he became dizzy after drinking two bottles of beer and was unable to resist when the unidentified woman made him board a taxi that took them to a hotel.

He said the following day he was taken to Leyte island where two male accomplices robbed him of cash and personal belongings.

The three suspects left him on an uninhabited part of the island on Thursday, Diocos said.

"Spike and rob" gang members have been blamed for the death of a South Korean diplomat and similar assaults on at least two foreign tourists in Makati City earlier this year.