Notorious kidnap gang member nabbed in Cotabato

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Police on Thursday arrested an alleged member of a kidnap gang involved in the abduction of several Chinese residents here.

The cashiered suspect, Kasim Daud, was cornered by police operatives in a remote farming village east of the city.

Daud, who hails from Barangay Payan in Northern Kabuntalan, was implicated in the abduction almost two years ago of businesswoman Jinkee Lim Yap.

Daud’s grandson, Guiabudin Kasim, who was with him when the police served the warrant for his arrest, has been turned over to an office here of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Daud reportedly belongs to a kidnap-for-ransom gang led by rouge Moro commander Mayangkang Saguile, which has been tagged in the abduction of more than 30 residents here and surrounding towns in a kidnapping frenzy that started in the late 1990s.