Abu Sayyaf kidnaps young businesswoman in Zamboanga City

MANILA, Philippines - Suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) abducted a young businesswoman in a village east of this city on Wednesday night.

City police director Senior Superintendent Angelito Casimiro identified the latest kidnap victim as Sabrina Ikbala Voon, 28, dealer of various known cosmetic brands and a scion of a respected Muslim clan.

Voon is the second victim of kidnapping in just three months in this city. It followed the abduction of a young public school teacher last December.

Casimiro said Voon was forcibly seized by six gunmen at about 9:56 p.m. from their residence in Calle Pohoc, Barangay Mercedes.

Isabela Ikbala Voon, the mother of the victim, told the police that the bandits initially wanted to take her six-year-old son of the victim.

The family were able to prevent this by resisting, but the bandits took Sabrina.

The bandits forced Voon into a white van with plate number GPH 851 and was monitored speeding towards the coastal village of Taluksangay.

The bandits were able to avoid the checkpoints set up by the police and abandoned the van in Sitio Duncaan in Barangay Talabaan.

The van was traced to a certain Ignacio Curambao, who told the police that the bandits rented the van at P3,000 a day supposedly for a business trip.

Casimiro said teams from the Naval Forces Western Mindanao (NFWM) have conducted naval blockades to prevent the bandits from escaping and slip their female captive to other areas using the sea route.

He said military and police forces in the nearby provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay, Basilan and Sulu have also been alerted.

TYhe authorities have yet to detmine if the abductors are the same group holding captive public school teacher Cathy Casipong, who was abducted last December 18 in an island near Limaong, east of this city.