Cops baffled over Japanese’s abduction

ANGELES CITY – Mystery shrouds the kidnapping of a 40-year-old Japanese tourist here last Dec. 5 as agents of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) surfaced yesterday to inform local police that the victim was already in their custody.

Sources from Station 4 of the city police here said that Suzuki Nagamori was kidnapped by four unidentified men at about 9:50 p.m. along Tamarind street in Barangay Malabanias here.

The suspects, using a gray pick-up van, blocked the motorcycle Nagamori was riding with bar girl Ileen Rosario in front of his rented house at Barangay Malabanias and dragged him into the van. The van did not have a plate number.

A policeman from Station 4 who asked not to be named said that while PAOCTF agents claimed yesterday that the victim was already in their custody, it wasn’t clear whether he was rescued or released by his kidnappers.

Station 4 chief Senior Inspector Ramon Francia was not immediately available to provide more data, as he reportedly accompanied PAOCTF agents to Malabanias for further investigation.

But Central Luzon police director Chief Supt. Roberto Calinisan said that Nagamori has not yet been released by his abductors as no ransom has been paid. He did not provide more details about the case.

Last week, Canadian national John Hanmer died after still unidentified men peppered him with bullets from an M-16 rifle also in Malabanias. Hanmer was also riding a motorcycle.– Ding Cervantes, Jaime Laude