Chinese-Filipino trader abducted

A 45-year-old Chinese-Filipino businessman was abducted by at least seven unidentified gunmen Friday afternoon in Caloocan City.

Inspector Alfredo Acson, chief of the Caloocan City Police Sub-station 5, said Wilson Lim, a resident of Roxas street in Caloocan, was snatched by gunmen who were on board three vehicles.

Lim was driving his green Mitsubishi Adventure when he was flagged down by the suspects at the corner of M.H. del Pilar and Maria Clara streets on 2nd Avenue at 1:30 p.m.

Senior Police Officer 3 Alfredo Capuyan said the gunmen forced Lim to transfer to the back seat of his vehicle. Some of the suspects sat beside him while another sat in the driver’s seat.

They drove towards C-3 Road, followed by three other vehicles, one of which was a brown van bearing license plate SFN-150, Capuyan said.

"We are still trying to gather more information from witnesses but most of them are hesitant to talk," he told The STAR.

As of 1:30 p.m. yesterday, Capuyan said they had yet to hear from Lim’s relatives on the developments in the case.

"The victim’s younger brother, Willington Lim, came to the station at 9:30 this morning, but said nothing much about the case. He just asked for a Xerox copy of our initial report about his brother’s abduction," he said.

Capuyan said they were coordinating with other police units to verify information that there was a police operation in the sub-station’s jurisdiction Friday afternoon.

"If there was indeed an operation from other units, we should be notified before or immediately after it. But none so far," he said.

The STAR sent text messages inquiring about new developments in the case to Caloocan City police chief Superintendent William Macavinta and Chief Inspector Cresencio Galvez, Macavinta’s intelligence chief, but received no reply. – Pete Laude, Jerry Botial