Kidnap-for-ransom ring leader falls in Cotabato City

MANILA, Philippines -  Police have arrested a suspected leader of a kidnap-for-ransom group operating in Cotabato City.

Chief Superintendent Lester Camba, Police Regional Office 12 director, identified the suspect as Khadaffy Guiamelon, who is facing two kidnapping charges.

Camba said joint members of Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG), Special Action Force (SAF), Koronadal City Police Station, South Cotabato Police Provincial Office (SCPPO) and Cotabatao City Police Office nabbed Guiamelon at his house on Pansacala Street, Barangay Rosario Heights 10 on Sunday.

He said Guiamelon has two standing warrants of arrest issued by Branches 14 and 15 of the Cotabato City Regional Trial Court for two cases of kidnapping.

Camba said that aside from kidnapping, Guiamelon's group is also being suspected of carrying out the deadly heist at the Agencia Brillantes Pawnshop robbery in Koronadal City last September 18, where two security guards were killed and four bystanders were wounded.

The suspect is now under the custody of the Cotabato City police.