Cops nab suspect in Chua kidnap-slay

Police arrested one of the leaders of a group tagged in the abduction of Coca-Cola executive Betty Chua Sy during operations last weekend in Payatas, Quezon City.

NAKTF chief and former Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes identified the arrested suspect as Zosimo Lauzon alias Sosing, a top leader of the Waray-Waray kidnap-for-ransom gang.

Reyes said Lauzon was arrested by the combined operatives of the Eastern Visayas Police and the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) last Sunday at his hideout in Quezon City.

Records from the NAKTF showed that Lauzon, 48, is included in the NAKTF’s list of wanted kidnappers with a reward of P1 million for his capture. He is a native of Barangay Canhandungan, Jaro, Leyte.

Sy was abducted in Barangay Sto. Domingo on Nov. 17, 2003. Her body was later found wrapped in plastic on a grassy area along the President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque.

Lauzon has a warrant of arrest for murder and a kidnap-for-ransom issued by the municipal trial court of Jaro in Leyte.

Apart from the Sy kidnap-slay case, Lauzon was also tagged in at least eight kidnapping cases. These were the kidnapping of Victor Castaneda in December, 2001; Imelda Bengzon in March 2002; Antonio Tan in November, 2002; Dr. Patrick Ongsitco in June 2003; Sang Ik Jang in August 2003; Dr. Gigi Dy and the Chan kidnap-for-ransom case.