Kidnap gang leader nabbed

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – An alleged leader of a criminal syndicate tagged in 30 kidnapping cases in Central Mindanao was arrested here yesterday morning.

Khadafy Guimelon, alias Commander Pilandok, was also alleged to be behind a robbery attempt at a pawnshop in Koronadal City last Thursday.

Authorities said Guimelon ranks third on the police list of the most wanted kidnappers in Mindanao.

He was arrested along Pansacala street at around 1 a.m. yesterday.

Informants said Guimelon had been spotted at a slum area behind MC Square, a trading center along Sinsuat Avenue here.

City police director Senior Superintendent Rolen Balquin said the suspect was undergoing questioning over a robbery attempt on Agencia Brillantes that left two security guards dead and four others wounded.

Balquin said Guimelon and his followers were said to be remnants of a kidnapping syndicate led by Abogado Gado, alias Commander Mubarak, and his alleged henchmen, Kagui Musa Ali and Mayangkang Saguile.

Mubarak, Ali and Saguile were tagged in the kidnapping of more than 70 people, mostly Chinese traders, in Central Mindanao during the 1990s.

Mubarak was killed in 1993 by police officers and Marines in Pantukan, Compostela Valley while Ali was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Cotabato City in 1999. Saguile was last reported to be suffering from an illness.