Police: Chinese trader abducted in Sulu

At least seven heavily-armed men seized a Filipino-Chinese restaurant owner in Jolo town in Sulu Friday afternoon, a police officer said Saturday. Police Dir. Felicisimo Khu of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations (DIPO)-Western Mindanao said at least seven armed men abducted Nelson Lim, 67, around 5:30 p.m. Friday, near his house in Sitio Lambayong, Barangay Bus-bus in Jolo town. In a text message to media Saturday morning, Khu also said Lim owns Plaza Panciteria, one of the town’s oldest and popular restaurants. The trader also owns the Times Hardware. A separate report from The Mindanao Examiner quoted police officials as saying the armed men seized Lim outside his house and dragged him into a waiting Mitsubishi L-300 van. “Policemen are tracking down the abductors and their hostage," said Chief Inspector Amil Baanan, operations’ chief of the Sulu provincial police force, according to the report. Police found the L-300 van after suspects abandoned it in Sandah village in nearby Patikul town, the report added. Meanwhile, Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Mindanao Command spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said the kidnappers, who he said are members of Abu Sayyaf cell operating in the area, were under Asman Sawadjaan. The Abu Sayyaf group is blamed for a number of high-profile kidnapping and bombing incidents in Mindanao. The group is still holding three fishermen kidnapped last March off Sulu, Cabangbang said. — LBG, GMA News