DIPOLOG CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 6, 2014) – Police arrested a 25-year old man implicated in the kidnapping of a son of a gas station owner in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga del Norte, officials said on Sunday.
Inspector Dahlan Samuddin, a regional police spokesman, said the suspect – Omar Wahab – was captured in the village of Bucana in Siocon town where kidnappers seized Michael Kho, 27, at the family’s Petron gas station on April 2.
He said Wahab is being interrogated by the police after witnesses pointed to him as one of those who acted as lookout during the kidnapping.
“As a result of continuous manhunt operation, police arrested Omar Wahab,” Samuddin said. “He was positively identified by eyewitnesses as one of those who served as look-out (during the kidnapping).”
It was not immediately known whether is a member of any rebel groups operating in Zamboanga provinces which is a known lair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Abu Sayyaf.
He said police are also investigating the owner of the car used by the gunmen in the kidnapping. The car’s owner Ronaldo Enovejas told police investigators that he sold the vehicle in December to a local resident Jerwin Biao through JBC Surplus Display Center owned by Jose Casona in Zamboanga City.
The car was recovered by the police in Siocon town and found a grenade inside the vehicle which was also peppered with bullets.
The fate of Kho is still unknown. No individual or group claimed responsibility for the abduction, but Samuddin said police forces were deployed to track down and rescue the victim. (Mindanao Examiner)
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