ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 13, 2012) – Unidentified gunmen seized the son of a fish pen owner who is also a village official in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga Sibugay, military and police reports said on Tuesday.
It said the assailants, armed with automatic rifles and pistols, abducted Meljhan Auditor, 20, who was only visiting the fish pen over the weekend.
No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, but Muslim rebels and criminal gangs with links to the militant group Abu Sayyaf is actively operating in the province, just 100 kilometers east of Zamboanga City.
The motive of the abduction is still unknown, but the military said it could be the handiwork of small criminal group extorting money from fish pen operators.
The military put up additional checkpoints in the town and doubled its patrol to help the local police track down the perpetrators.
It was the second abduction in the town since December last year when militants seized Warren Rodwell, a 52-year old Australian national married to a Filipina in Ipil.
Rodwell was taken from his seaside home by gunmen disguised as policemen and dragged him to a waiting boat and brought to nearby Basilan province, a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf. (Mindanao Examiner)
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