5 kidnap suspects rounded up in QC

Police arrested five of 14 kidnap-for-ransom gangsters Monday following the abduction and subsequent release of a 33-year-old Filipino-Chinese businessman and his nephew in Sto. Domingo, Quezon City.

Victims Orlando Uy, an auto supply shop owner, and his nephew Mark Dagdag, 21, residents of 73 Simoun St., Barangay Sto. Domingo were released a week after their abduction on April 26. The victims’ family reportedly paid ransom amounting to P845,000 , the police said.

The suspects, Efren Posos, 26, Elmer Grana, 21, Renato Moree, 35, Ireneo Acoma, 39, and Irene Garciola, 50, are now detained at the Central Police District headquarters. Criminal charges have been filed against them.

Investigation said that the victims were kidnapped near their house at about 5:45 p.m. and were released on the early morning of May 4 at a house in an open field in Montalban, Rizal where they were held.

Police operatives, however, were only able to recover P43,5000 of the ransom money which was paid by Dagdag’s mother, Fe, to the suspects.

Reports showed that the male suspects planned the kidnapping at the house of Garciola, located at 43 Pampanga St. in Barangay Commonwealth, where they posed as boarders supposedly working for a garments factory.

Dagdag, Uy, and his wife Daisy were on board their Mitsubishi L-300 van (TJJ-315) and were about to enter their house when the male suspects appeared and pointed guns at them.

The suspects then boarded the victim’s vehicle and took them to Litex Road in Quezon City, where Daisy and the van were abandoned. Orlando and Dagdag were made to board a taxi cab and were taken to Montalban, Rizal.

Negotiations were made through Dagdag’s cellphone. the police said. The suspects allegedly demanded P15 million, but eventually settled for P845,000 after a week of haggling.

Dagdag’s mother made the payment at midnight last Saturday to Posos in a squatter’s area in Rosario, Pasig City. The victims were released a few hours later in Montalban, Rizal.

Follow-up operations were immediately conducted by CPD elements. Policemen were deployed in Quezon City, Manila and other cities and municipalities. The suspects were collared during separate raids in Garciola’s hideouts in Pampanga street and in Anonas Street in Quezon City and in Sta. Mesa, Manila. The victims later positively identified their abductors, police investigators said.

Manhunt operations are now being undertaken by the police for the arrest of the other suspects identified as Gerardo Amado, Rocelo Morfe, Al Morfe, Cesar Amado, Allan Celebre, Zosimo Zabala and Edoy Trota.

Trota is said to be the leader of the group, the police said.