Kidnapped trader in Lanao escapes from abductors

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Norte — A businessman who was kidnapped on Saturday managed to escape from his abductors an hour after he was seized. Gulam Dia Jr. was abducted in Marawi City's Barangay Marinaut West around 3 p.m., but managed to escape an hour after. Police immediately launched a hot pursuit operation to rescue the victim, but the kidnappers managed to elude arrest. At around 4 p.m., the victim arrived at the Marawi City police station and reported that he was able to escape from his abductors. In a text message, 103rd Brigade Commander Col Dan Lucero said, “They (kidnappers) will regret what they have done. We have already identified them. We encourage the family of the victim to file charges." He said the victim's family refuses to give the ransom amount the abductors demanded. The kidnapping incident happened days after the Philippine National Police (PNP) sent Special Action Force (SAF) commandos to the city to help reactivate police-military Joint Task Force (JTF) Ranao against kidnap-for-ransom gangs. The SAF will be part of the police component along with the Regional Public Safety Battalions of Police Regional Office 12 and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. President Aquino ordered the reactivation of Task Force Ranao last May. Chief Superintendent Francisco Cristobal, Deputy Director for Integrated Police Operations in Western Mindanao, was named Task Force commander with Col. Daniel Lucero, Commander of the Army’s 103rd Brigade, as his deputy. — Mariz Revales/LBG, GMA News