Police to file charges against abductors of German, three Filipinos

By Ronron
June 1, 2007

Charges of abduction will be filed against the captors of a German national and three Filipinos in Pikit, North Cotabato, police and military officials said Friday.

Sr. Insp. Elias Dandan, chief of Pikit Municipal Police, said all eight suspects have been identified and are now being pursued by elements of the Philippine Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion.

Dandan said only five of the suspects forcibly took the four victims, who were on a business mission, at around 9am Thursday in Barangay Batulawan. The remaining three joined the five only upon reaching Barangay Balongis.

Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ben Dolorfino, chairman for the Philippine side of the GRP-MILF Adhoc Joint Action Group (AJAG), said the abductors are led by a certain Datu Can. “They are ordinary criminals there. They are cattle rustlers,” Dolorfino said.

Dolorfino said the eight are now being pursued by elements of the Philippine Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion.

The four victims were released later in the day upon the intervention of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

In simple rites yesterday (Friday) afternoon, the MILF formally turned over the victims to the International Monitoring Team (IMT) in Cotabato City, which in turn passed them on to Dolorfino, representing the government.

“They look okay. There are no indications that they were hurt by their captors,” Dolorfino described the victims.

“They will undergo debriefing with the Philippine National Police (PNP),” he added.

Dolorfino reiterated that no ransom was paid for the release of the four, saying it was the firing of one round of a rocket-propelled grenade by the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces that prompted the suspects to abandon their victims.

May Sharon Jackson, one of the victims, had said that they went to the area since her Germand husband has a business transaction involving metals./DMS