PACER nabs kidnap gang leader in Masbate

MANILA, Philippines - Police anti-kidnapping agents arrested one of the leaders of a notorious kidnapping syndicate preying on wealthy businessmen and their families in Metro Manila, Davao and Cebu, in Masbate the other day.

Cornered in an open field while trying to escape in Barangay Fabrica, Mobo town was Edgardo Ferolino Renata, alias King and Nonoy, one of the leaders of the Pepino kidnapping gang, said Senior Superintendent Dindo Espina, head of the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER).

Espina said Renata’s group has direct links with the equally notorious Waray-Waray-Ilonggo kidnapping gang.

“We finally cornered him after several months of tracking him down,” Espina said, adding that Renata carried a P170,000 price on his head.

PACER records show that Renata had numerous warrants of arrest for a string of kidnappings issued by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 220.

Renata, according to Espina, was tagged as the mastermind of at least 12 kidnappings from 2003 to 2007.

He was also implicated in the abduction and illegal detention of Arnold and Jasmine Perez in Tagum, Davao del Norte in 2006, and a murder case in Masbate.

“His arrest partly solved the kidnappings that he and his group had committed,” Espina said.

Espina said Renata’s arrest brings to 15 the number of Pepino kidnapping gang members already neutralized by the police.