Kidnapped trader released in Maguindanao town

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines --- Kidnappers set free in Datu Odin Sinsuat town  trader Kenneth Cabrera, who was snatched by gunmen last month in Barangay Kauran, Ampatuan where he operates a grains buy-and-sell business.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Cabrera, 27, was brought and eventually abandoned by his captors near the premises of the University of Southern Mindanao at the town proper of Datu Odin Sinsuat.

Datu Odin Sinsuat is about 40 kilometers northwest of Ampatuan, where Cabrera resides.

Hermoso said someone had called and notified the mayor of Ampatuan, Datu Rasul Sangki,  about Cabrera's release.

Hermoso said local officials in Ampatuan town fetched Cabrera and brought him to a doctor for a medical examination.

The police had tagged  members of the radical Bangsamoro Islamic Freed Movement as Cabrera's abductors.

BIFM’s spokesman, Abu Misry Mama, has refuted the military’s insinuation over Catholic station dxMS in Cotabato City.

Relatives of Cabrera denied having paid ranson for his freedom.