PACER rescues Pakistani, catches 7 kidnap suspects

Police rescued a Pakistani national and arrested seven of his kidnappers during separate operations in Bataan yesterday.

A report reaching Camp Crame in Quezon City showed that kidnap victim Yasser Irfan is now in the custody of the joint Bataan police and the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER).

Central Luzon police director Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz confirmed Irfan’s rescue but refused to give details of his kidnapping “so as not to jeopardize ongoing follow-up operations.”

The Camp Crame report identified the three of the arrested suspects as Sesinando Martin, Nestor Juliano and Galardo Martin, who were arrested by the joint Bataan police and PACER in a safehouse at Barangay Catani in Hermosa town at about 7 a.m. yesterday.

Irfan identified the three suspects as among his kidnappers.

The report claimed that Irfan was kidnapped somewhere in Bataan last Jan. 9, and his kidnappers contacted Irfan’s family members and demanded an initial P10 million ransom.

The victim’s family managed to negotiate the reduction of the ransom to P400,000. The pay-off was arranged and consummated Saturday night.

However, the Bataan police and PACER agents traced the safehouse of the kidnappers and rescued Irfan.

Recovered from the three suspects was an envelope containing P5,000 and a cellular phone.

Police said the money was the safehouse owner’s share of the loot while the cell phone was used to negotiate the ransom.

The Camp Crame report stated Irfan managed to identify his five other kidnappers from a police rogue’s gallery, including a certain Renato Obidosa, alias Jin.

A subsequent follow-up operation in Olongapo City led to the arrest of Irfan’s four other kidnappers, the Camp Crame report said.