4 Chinese kidnap victims rescued in QC, Pampanga; 11 arrested

BY MARTIN A. SADONGDONG

A swab test requirement led to the rescue of four Chinese victims from their 11 kidnappers, four of them foreigners, in separate operations in Quezon City and Mexico, Pampanga, the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced Friday.

Police Brig. Gen. Jonnel Estomo, director of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG), said they received a report from a diagnostics laboratory in Quezon City that Ming Xuanbo, allegedly a female Chinese kidnap victim, was scheduled to undergo a swab test prior to her flight back to China.

Estomo said they immediately conducted an intensive rescue operation which resulted in the rescue of Xuanbo around 6 p.m. last Wednesday at a medical diagnostic center on Amoranto Street, Quezon City.

The police also arrested three suspects identified as Liang Khai Chean, a Malaysian national; Mou Yun Peng, a Chinese national; and Benjie Labor.

During the debriefing, Ming told the police that three more kidnap victims were being held at a safe house of the suspects in Mexico, Pampanga.

A follow-up operation was carried out later that day which led to the rescue of Zhang Wei, Shi Li Wen, and Wu Xin, all Chinese nationals, around 10 p.m.

Police also nabbed eight more suspects identified as Zhang Jin Xu and Teryanto, both Chinese; and their Filipino cohorts Jean Dominic, Keannu Louis Mateo, John Joderick Bautista, Ronald Allan Rosal, Lewis Yuson, and Mark Jeric Cruz.

Estomo said the victims positively identified the suspects as their abductors who tortured them in exchange for a large sum.

The suspects were brought to the PNP-AKG detention facility in Camp Crame, Quezon City for the filing of charges. (Martin A. Sadongdong)