Gang abducting girls on the roam

A 15-year-old female high school student was allegedly kidnapped but managed to escape unharmed from her abductors, believed to be members of a syndicate engaged in the flesh trade, in Makati the other day.

Inspector Manuel Tolentino, commander of Makati police station Precinct 8, identified the victim as Alona Divinagracia Bagano, a junior student of the Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino High School near the Comembo market in Fort Bonifacio, resident of 86 Santol st., Barangay Comembo, Makati.

Bagano told probers that she had just emerged from school and was walking on her way home at around 4:15 p.m. last Monday when the six suspects on board a van with no license plates suddenly blocked her path.

She said that three of the suspects immediately alighted from the vehicle, grabbed her by the hands and dragged her into the van.

The victim said that she saw nine other young girls inside the van, who were clad in different school uniforms. Once inside the van, one of the suspects covered her mouth with a chemically-treated handkerchief causing her to feel dizzy and fall unconscious.

Bagano said that she regained consciousness when the vehicle was caught in traffic near EDSA Central in "Crossing", Mandaluyong.

She said that she got the chance to escape, since she was seated next to the door of the van.

The suspects tried to chase her but she managed to immediately get a taxi and proceed to her school principal, Nora Serdena.

Serdena brought the victim to Inspector Tolentino.

Tolentino told reporters that the victim will be brought to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) in Camp Crame.

Police are eyeing the possibility that the suspects are members of a syndicate kidnapping young girls from Metro Manila and bring them to nearby provinces for the flesh trade.