Kidnapped trader's body found in river

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Policemen and Marines fished out from Kinagatan River here on Saturday the body of a businessman from Mandaluyong City who was kidnapped in nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguinda­nao the previous day.

The slain trader, Dominador Mendoza Berdin, 53, had a gunshot wound in one of his legs and another one in his upper abdomen.

Berdin, who was engaged in buying antique jewelry, was seized by supposed local contacts led by a certain Mods he was to transact with at the Hillside Resort Hotel in Datu Odin town.

Inspector Lendsy Sinsuat, Datu Odin police chief, said the kidnappers apparently managed to convince Berdin that they had antique gold and silver jewelry they could sell to him.

Sinsuat said the meeting between Berdin and his contacts was initially set in Cotabato City, but the venue was later changed.           

Responding policemen led by Sinsuat arrested two suspects, a certain Norodin Malik and Ryan Usman, who got left behind near the hotel when Berdin was dragged into a getaway vehicle and brought to a riverside village at the Capiton area at the Cotabato City-Datu Odin boundary.

Sinsuat said they recovered a caliber .45 pistol from one of the arrested suspects, who both confessed to their role in Berdin’s kidnapping.

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