ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 4, 2014) – Kidnappers have reportedly demanded P5 million ransom for the safe release of a young mother they seized in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines.
Police also have filed criminal charges against the 28-year old Abdul Hassan Yusop, who was among those who kidnapped Sabrina Ikbala Voon, a native of Sulu province, on February 19.
Local police chief Angelito Casimiro said the kidnapper has been identified through his photo on a fake driver’s license he used to hire the van in Zamboanga. Casimiro said Yusop, who used the name Rey Santos in his identification card, is a native of Tuburan town in Basilan province, just several nautical miles south of Zamboanga City.
It was not immediately known whether Yusop is a member of the Abu Sayyaf group operating in Basilan, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.
Voon was forcibly taken by at least six gunmen disguised as policemen from her house in the village of Mercedes and dragged the woman to a waiting van that had been recovered by the police who pursued the gang.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the abduction, but authorities had previously blamed kidnapping cases to the Abu Sayyaf group. (Mindanao Examiner)
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