New crime gang eyed in kidnap

BUTUAN CITY — Police are eyeing a new criminal gang behind the kidnapping of five bus passengers, two of them said to be engineers, in Surigao City last Aug. 22.

Police learned about the abduction from Josephine Valenzuela, a soldier’s wife, who managed to escape when a female companion of one of the kidnappers took pity on her because of her pregnancy.

One of the five victims, said to be an entertainer who had just arrived from Japan, reportedly sent a text message to Valenzuela describing the kidnappers as wearing fatigue uniforms and sporting long beards.

The woman said they boarded a boat after a long walk from Jabonga town in Agusan del Norte.

Police suspect that the kidnappers are keeping the five victims at the mountain boundary of Jabonga and Malimono, Surigao del Norte.

Caraga police director Alberto Rama Olario said a joint police-military team is now locating the kidnappers’ lair.

"We have sent elite troops for the rescue operation in case the bandits will not turn over the victims peacefully," he said, adding that they will adhere to the government’s no-ransom policy.