Cops clueless in trader’s abduction

COTABATO CITY – Probers are still facing a blankwall on the whereabouts of kidnapped trader Arthur Yap, who was snatched by armed men Wednesday at Upi town in Maguindanao.

Pursuing policemen, backed by soldiers and civilian volunteers, nabbed one of Yap’s abductors following a brief firefight yesterday at a remote barangay in Upi, some 40-kilometers southeast of this city.

Upi Mayor Datu Michael Sinsuat, chair of the town’s Municipal Peace and Order Council, said they have not received any ransom demand yet from the kidnappers who were later seen dragging the victim forcibly towards the hinterland on the border of Upi and Datu Odin Sinsuat towns.

"No matter what happens, we will adhere to the government’s no-ransom policy in dealing with the kidnappers," Sinsuat stressed.

Yap was snatched by five armed men from his house at the town proper of Upi and taken away using a getaway vehicle which responding policemen found abandoned in a secluded farm in Barangay Nangri of the same town.

"Our policemen here and all barangay officials in Upi are still tracking down the kidnappers in a bid to rescue Mr. Yap," Sinsuat said.

Yap was the fourth Chinese kidnapped in Central Mindanao in two months. His abduction came just two weeks after the release of trader Vicente Yu, who was snatched at Salimbao District here last September by five pistol-wielding suspects. – John Unson