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Swiss-Filipino resident kidnapped in Zamboanga


(UPDATED 8 P.M.) Gunmen clad in police uniforms have kidnapped a Filipino-Swiss businessman from his beachfront residence in Zamboanga City, the military reported Monday. Armed Forces of the Philippines public information chief Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said five armed men took Charlie Reich, 72 years old, from his home along the coastal area in the village of Patalon in Zamboanga City. His friend, German national Karl Reichling, managed to fight off the raiders, a separate report said. “They took Mr. Reich at 5 p.m. yesterday. He was brought forcibly to a boat, which went to an unknown direction. We are monitoring progress reports from our field officers," Burgos told GMANews.TV in a phone interview. Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said investigators are eyeing the Abu Sayyaf Group as suspects in the kidnapping. “Our report states that it is the ASG, although tinitingnan din natin yung ibang anggulo kasi matagal na ditong nakatira yung victim… yung area kasing yun ay ang ASG ang nag-o-operate," Verzosa said in a separate interview. The PNP chief added that initial investigation showed the victim was whisked off to the northern part of Zamboanga. No ransom demand has been made so far and authorities have yet to establish contact with the abductors, Verzosa said. Reich is married to a Filipina and has been residing in the Philippines for 40 years, according to First Infantry Division chief Maj. Gen. Romeo Lustestica. Burgos said local police and the military’s Task Force Zamboanga are pursuing the abductors in a bid to rescue Reich. Lustestica said that Moro Islamic Liberation Front sub-leader Malista Malanca and Abu Sayyaf leader Khair Mundos planned the kidnapping in Al-Barka, Basilan. Abductors carried out the kidnapping by disguising as policemen and threatening to arrest Reich over drug charges, he added. A local crisis management committee led by Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat has been created in the wake of the latest kidnapping in the area, said Verzosa. The police will create its own area management committee once the exact location of the victim has been established, he said. In the past, government authorities have blamed the Abu Sayyaf bandit group and Moslem separatist insurgents for various kidnap-for-ransom activities in the southern Philippines In 2009, International Committee of the Red Cross workers Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, Swiss Andreas Notter, and Italian Eugenio Vagni were kidnapped in Sulu province while Irish missionary Fr. Michael Sinnott was abducted in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur. All have been released. - Sophia Dedace/ABS/YA, GMANews.TV
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