Suspect in German treasure hunter’s kidnap falls

COTABATO CITY – Police arrested in Pikit, North Cotabato yesterday one of more than a dozen suspects in the kidnapping of a German treasure hunter last year.

The suspect, Saludin Lampangan, 22, voluntarily gave up after sensing that Pikit policemen led by Inspector Elias Dandan had surrounded his hideout.

Dandan said Lampangan had long been wanted for the kidnapping of German national Thomas Walraff and his Filipino wife while they were surveying possible treasure hunting sites in Pikit town last year.

Lampangan is a known henchman of Datukan Samad, who masterminded the couple’s abduction.

Dandan said he personally spotted Lampangan talking to someone at the municipal plaza of Pikit, prompting him to call for back-up and serve the warrant for his arrest.

“He was one of those identified by witnesses as (part of) the group that lured the Walraff couple into surveying prospective treasure hunting sites in an interior barangay in Pikit,” Dandan said

Walraff and his wife were rescued by policemen and soldiers, along with the ceasefire committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, less than 24 hours after they were snatched.

Authorities have been hunting down Lampangan also for his involvement in gunrunning and drug trafficking.