"Because of their carefully planned operations, our police, in coordination with the regional intelligence and investigation division, were able to safely rescue Indian nationals Sanju Singh and Francis Singh," Lazatin said, citing in particular Senior Superintendent Policarpio Segubre, city police chief.
The two foreigners are residents of Palmera Subdivision in Barangay Sto. Domingo here.
Segubre identified the arrested suspects as Edgardo Garbo, 48; Eddie Lamego, 59; Romulo Javier, 49; Abeto Loquinari, 27; and their alleged leader, Armando Mondero, 36.
He said the suspects admitted that they planned and executed the kidnapping, which they carried out last July 6.
In his report to Lazatin, Segubre said a certain Rico Singh reported to the local police that his cousins Sanjo and Francis were abducted by at least seven men in front of their house at Palmera Subdivision.
The kidnappers, according to Rico, were on board a Honda Grace van with license plate BDA 421.
Later, a friend of the Singhs identified as Anna Frias received a call from the abductors who demanded a ransom of P300,000.
The victims’ relatives successfully negotiated that the amount be reduced to P100,000. They then informed the police about this.
Segubre and his men promptly laid out an entrapment after the kidnappers told the victims’ relatives to bring the ransom to a fastfood outlet in Barangay Dau in Mabalacat town.
The kidnappers asked Frias to take a jeepney in going to the fastfood outlet where unknown to them, covert policemen had already positioned themselves.
Mondero was collared after he received an envelope containing the supposed ransom from Frias.
Mondero confessed to policemen that his cohorts, together with the victims, were in a van at the parking lot of a supermarket about two kilometers away.
Police proceeded to the place, arresting the four other suspects and rescuing the two captive cousins.
Police found a caliber .38 revolver loaded with three live bullets, a grenade and two cellphones inside the suspects’ van.
The five suspects have been charged with kidnapping for ransom.
Meanwhile, Lazatin also commended two employees of the Blue Nile Hotel in Balibago here for returning a bag containing 2,000 Australian dollars and a digital camera which a guest left at the hotel’s lobby last July 21.
Hotel employees Joan Opamin and Maria Vanessa Tayco returned the black bag containing the money and the camera to Australian tourist Paul Moroney, who gave them P2,000 as reward. — Ding Cervantes