Suspect in kidnapping of barangay exec in Sibuco nabbed

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines  - Police forces captured one of the three kidnappers behind the abduction of a barangay captain in Sibuco town, Zamboanga del Norte, according security official.

The arrest of Jasser Mahamud-Siddik led to the identities of his two other companions Yusop Maliki and a certain Jumrani who were responsible in the abduction of Barangay Captain Cecilia Alas-as Thursday night at coastal village of Paniran, Sibuco town.

Siddik, who was captured by the pursuing police forces Friday, was positively identified by the victim’s son as among the gunmen that barged into their house and abducted Alas-as, according to Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, spokesman of Police Regional Office 9 (PRO).

Police and military forces have launched search for the two other suspects and  for the possible rescue of the captive barangay captain.

The local police authorities of Sibuco have also prepared charges against the suspects, Huesca said.

Meanwhile, the family of an abducted businesswoman in Ipil town, Zamboanga Sibugay is trying to establish contact with the kidnappers, according to Chief Superintendent Roy Bahian, provincial police commander.

Authorities, however, believed Cynthia Canonan Caboverde, 48, was abducted to get ransom from the family.

Caboverde was on board their mini truck with her husband as driver and an unidentified hitchhiker, armed with handgun, who held them later and directed them Thursday into a coastal village where five other suspects were waiting.

The abductors seized the money of the victim amounting to P800,000 and cellphone before taking Caboverde along with them on board two motorized pumpboats that escaped toward an unknown direction.