Missing Japanese baffles Cebu cops

CEBU — An elderly Japanese man appears to have vanished into thin air.

Ryohei Sato, 70, was last seen leaving the Buyong Hotel and Restaurant in Lapu-Lapu City where he had been staying, on the night of Jan. 30 and has not been seen since.

The case has baffled police.

They refused to say if Sato had been kidnapped in the absence of any ransom demand.

They would not also say if he had met an accident or had become a victim of foul play owing to the lack of any report that would suggest either fate.

So far, the only pieces of the puzzle that police have been able to piece together was that Sato checked into the hotel on Jan. 26. For two days, nobody saw him.

On Jan. 28, he was seen leaving the hotel at about 8 a.m. and returning two hours later in the company of a woman.

At about 11 a.m. of the same day, the woman was seen to have left the hotel alone. Sato himself was later fetched by someone in a red Mitsubishi Adventure.

Nobody saw Sato return to his room but he must have come back unnoticed because the next day, he was seen again leaving his room at about 5 p.m.

Again, nobody saw him come back but he was noticed leaving his room at about 9:30 p.m.

On Jan. 30, Sato left the hotel at about 8:30 p.m. He has not been seen since.

Regional police chief Rolando Garcia said while police are refusing to say if Sato had been abducted, that appears to be the only direction worth pursuing.

Rumors are rife that Sato had been kidnapped and that ransom in the amount of P2.5 million had been demanded from his daughter in Japan. But neither Garcia nor other police officials are confirming this.

Senior Inspector Ruben Agustin, lead officer of the Presidential Anti-Crime Emergency Response unit in Cebu, said the only thing the police can establish with certainty is that Sato is missing.

As to whether his disappearance meant anything, Agustin is not saying.

Police are also baffled that no member of Sato’s family in Japan has come looking for him.

A man with a plastic bag, who reportedly resembled Sato closely, was seen boarding a Bacolod-bound bus on Jan. 31 but police are not sure if the information is, in fact, reliable. – Freeman News Service