Cotabato trader released

COTABATO CITY — Kidnappers of a wealthy Chinese trader freed him without ransom here last Saturday night after a former mayor threatened to kill two of their captured comrades, police said.

Grocery store owner Michael Ang, 28, was released less than 24 hours after kidnapped student Al Vincent Uy, 14, was rescued in nearby Sultan Kudarat town.

The kidnappers’ emissaries brought Ang to the residence here of Datu Tucao Mastura, former mayor of Sultan Kudarat who intervened for the victim’s release.

The release came three days after Mastura and his men, backed by elements of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Battalion, the Maguindanao police and the 2nd Marine Brigade, arrested two of Ang’s captors in a dragnet in a secluded district of Sultan Kudarat.

Mastura, known for his iron-fisted policy against criminals, threatened to execute today the captured kidnappers, Abdullah Guimalon and Ismael Ghadzali, if their group would not release Ang by midnight Saturday.

Four pistol-wielding men snatched Ang along a busy street here while he was on his way to his store at the public market last Sept. 18.

Ang’s kidnappers earlier had demanded a P10-million ransom in exchange for his release.

"But instead of paying ransom, we pressured the kidnappers to release Ang by threatening that their parents, whose whereabouts are known to us, (would be answerable) for their criminal activities," Mastura said.

Last Friday, Mastura led the daring rescue of Uy, a high school sophomore, in Barangay Pingping, a secluded district in Sultan Kudarat.

Uy was abducted in the town proper of Midsayap, North Cotabato and was held captive for five days in Mastura’s hometown.

Uy’s captors shot it out with Mastura and his men, but abandoned the teenage student and scampered in different directions after sensing that the soldiers, policemen and Marines had begun cordoning off their hideout.

Mastura said his group and the Marine-led Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force are still working out the safe release of Chinese businessman Vicente Yu who is being held captive somewhere in Maguindanao.

Five armed men abducted Yu in nearby Salimbao District last month. His kidnappers have reportedly asked for a P8-million ransom.