PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 5, 2013) – Philippine police launched an operation Sunday to rescue a Chinese trader kidnapped in the southern province of Zamboanga del Sur, officials said.
Officials said the Lee Tan, 37, was kidnapped on his way to pay a Filipino creditor in Zamboanga del Sur’s Aurora town. His Filipino wife, Melfe, has reported the kidnapping to the police in Pagadian City where the couple runs the Dong Lee store.
The woman said she spoke to her husband on his mobile phone shortly after he reached the town, but was shocked when a man phoned her to say that they kidnapped Lee. She said the trader was travelling alone in a van.
She told police that the kidnappers were demanding half a million pesos for Lee’s safe release.
Police have recovered Lee’s van abandoned in the village of Eastern Bobongan in the town of Ramon Magsaysay.
“Police are now conducting a hot pursuit operation while all station commanders of the Zamboanga Del Sur are directed to conduct strong checkpoint and chokepoint operation for possible rescue of the victim and arrest of the abductors,” said Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, a regional police spokesman.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. (Mindanao Examiner)
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