Former Italian missionary kidnapped in Dipolog City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines  – Unidentified gunmen seized an Italian businessman in Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte on Wednesday night.

Police said 10 armed men forcibly took Rolando del Torchio, 53, owner of UrChoice Pizza Café, from his pizza house along Quezon Avenue in Barangay Miputak.

Four of the gunmen reportedly pretended to be customers by ordering pizza.

Reports said they dragged Del Torquio, a former priest, from his computer table to a white colored van and sped towards the coastal town of Manukan.

The getaway vehicle was later found abandoned near the shoreline where witnesses saw the men transfer Del Torquio to a pump boat and sail south.

City police chief Supt. Ranie Hachuela said security cameras caught images of some of the gunmen which may help authorities identify them. They showed the Italian on his back on the floor being dragged by the kidnappers, who held him by the feet.

The kidnappers also tried to seize two customers but they resisted and a gunman barked an order that the two be set free because they had their target, said Leonor Rabino, Dipolog City information officer.

A restaurant staffer tried to help Del Torquio but one of the kidnappers pointed a gun at him, Rabino said. He said the Italian was very friendly and spoke the local Visayan dialect.

Air force helicopters, navy patrol boats and army and police forces were deployed to search coastal areas and suspected hideouts, including in southern Sulu province, where Abu Sayyaf militants have held hostages for ransom in jungle camps, but Del Torquio has not been found. – Jaime Laude, AP