Bid to kidnap doctor foiled, say police

From the Gulf Today (Oct 18): Bid to kidnap doctor foiled, say police

An attempt by heavily-armed men to kidnap a well-known physician, also the brother of the vice mayor of Zamboanga City in restive Mindanao, has been foiled, police reported on Saturday.

Inspector Nonito Asdai, the police spokesman, identified the would-be victim as Dr Armando Ituralde, 64, the elder brother of Zamboanga City Vice Mayor Cesar Ituralde.

Asdai reported that one of the suspected kidnappers, identified as Kaisar Maing Atari, 25, was arrested in a follow-up operation following Ituralde’s complaint to the police.

Based on initial investigation, one of the suspects managed to enter Ituralde’s clinic located in a village in the city by posing as a patient on Thursday night, according to Asdai.

Once inside, Asdai said the suspect drew out a gun and tried to kidnap Ituralde who, however, resisted and escaped through a trapdoor installed inside his clinic and ran towards his house where he called his brother and the police.

Witnesses told police they saw at least 15 armed men aboard motorised multi-cabs outside the clinic but immediately fled when the kidnap attempt failed. Asdai said they have yet to establish the motive and the criminal gang involved including the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf extremists recently declared by a Mindanao regional court as a “terror group” based on the country’s anti-terrorism law.

The Abu Sayyaf was also believed responsible for the abduction of three foreigners — two Canadians and a Norwegan — as well as a Filipina from a posh resort in Davao del Sur province on Sept.21.

http://gulftoday.ae/portal/a67d579b-20c3-4a9d-98fd-b74932aa8e53.aspx