KFR gang leader shot dead

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna – A suspected leader of a kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) syndicate was killed in an ambush in Sta. Cruz, Laguna Saturday night, police said.

Senior Superintendent Felipe Rojas, Laguna police director, said Larry Passion, leader of a notorious KFR gang operating in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) area, and a companion, a certain Sonny Clarito, were cruising the national highway on board a motorcycle when a green van blocked their path.

The van’s occupants then fired at the van, killing Passion on the spot with six gunshot wounds in the head and body. Clarito was unhurt.

Rojas told The STAR that Passion had numerous pending warrants of arrest for murder, robbery, and illegal possession of firearms. Passion was released from jail recently after posting bail.

Rojas added that Passion, said to be a former communist rebel, was also on the police watchlist as the suspected leader of gangs involved in bank robberies and the illegal drug trade in the region.