Cops nab kidnap suspects in Sultan Kudarat

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Policemen, acting on tips by villagers, foiled Wednesday an attempt by four suspected members of a kidnapping syndicate to intrude into Tacurong City via a national highway in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.

Senior Supt. Rolen Balquin, Sultan Kudarat’s provincial police director, said the suspects, Kaharudin Odin, Jimmy Abbas, Benjar Salik and Ismael Lantenge, were intercepted by police operatives at a checkpoint in Barangay Kenram in Isulan town.

The suspects were on their way to Tacurong City on board a blue Tamaraw FX with license plates UKB 849.

The Sultan Kudarat provincial police learned of the group’s plan to meet their contacts in Tacurong City from informants, some of them Muslim religious leaders, whom Balquin declined to identify for their own safety.

The four men voluntarily yielded fragmentation grenades, a .357 Magnum revolver and a gauge 12 shotgun to the policemen that flagged them down while in Barangay Kenram.

The suspects could not explain why they were carrying guns and grenades, Balquin said.

He added that investigators and police intelligence agents are now checking the background of the four men due to persistent feedback claiming they belong to a kidnap-for-ransom gang comprised of bandits being hunted down jointly by the ceasefire committee of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“Let’s give our investigators enough time to determine the background of these four armed men,” Balquin said.

Balquin said the suspects are also being questioned now on their possible involvement in Wednesday’s grenade attack at a commercial district in Tacurong City, which left four people injured.

“We ought to thank the patriotic people that gave us information that led to the apprehension of these four men,” Balquin said.