P2-M ransom paid for kidnapped Indian trader?

ILAGAN, Isabela — A young Indian businessman, who was abducted in Echague town earlier this week, was released by his kidnappers Friday morning after his family reportedly paid P2-million ransom.

The family and relatives of 26-year-old Martin Singh as well as members of the local Indian community, however, were silent on the ransom payment.

Reports said Singh’s kidnappers had initially demanded a ransom of P10 million.

Senior Inspector Pilarito Malillin, Echague police chief, said Singh was released at about 8 a.m. Friday in the middle of a ricefield in Barangay Magsaysay, Cordon town.

Malillin said the payoff bungled the joint entrapment operation being conducted by the Echague police and the provincial anti-kidnapping task force led by Superintendent Danny Salvador, which were closing in on the kidnappers’ lair.

He said police managed to trace the whereabouts of Singh’s captors through cellphone calls.

Malillin said he was disappointed that Singh’s family chose to pay the ransom instead of helping the police-led search and rescue operation.

According to reports, five Indian nationals, who are all related to one another and to Singh, too, allegedly withdrew unspecified amounts of money from a local bank. Police believe that the money was the ransom paid for Singh’s release.

Sources, however, said the decision of Singh’s family was understandable since they would not want to gamble with his life.

Singh, a resident of Santiago City, was seized by armed men on board a van along the national highway in Barangay Ipil, Echague town before 12 noon last Aug. 14.

Singh was cruising the highway on his motorcycle when his abductors, one of them a woman, flagged him down and then dragged him to their van.

The kidnappers’ vehicle bore a fake license plate, based on verification with the Land Transportation Office here.

Police found Singh’s motorcycle abandoned in an isolated area in Echague that same day.

Singh’s abduction was the second in the region this year. Last July 20, armed men seized Chinese-Filipino businessman Lawrence Ang at his gasoline station in Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya.

Ang was released eight hours later. It was not known, however, if his family paid ransom for his release.