Cotabato kidnap suspect arrested

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  – Police yesterday arrested in a dragnet a suspect in more than a dozen kidnappings in recent months and who had been acting as a shabu courier for a big drug ring operating in Maguindanao.

The suspect, Mohammad Gampong, an ethnic Maguindanaon, gave himself up to policemen led by Superintendent Alex Tagum after sensing that he had been cornered in Midsayap, North Cotabato.

Gampong was found in possession of some P10,000 worth of shabu kept in a bag.

Gampong had been implicated in the kidnappings of four Filipino-Chinese traders in nearby Cotabato City from August 2010 to April this year.

Tagum said they have sufficient evidence, including photographs, showing that Gampong, indeed, has links with kidnapping gangs operating in Maguindanao and Cotabato City.