Reward up for arrest wanted carnap leader

DAVAO CITY -- Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte put up millions of money as reward for the arrest or killing of Ryan “Baktin” Yu, tagged as the most notorious carnapper in Mindanao, believed the brain behind the series of carnapping incidents in the city and entire country.

“If you can arrest him, kill him, or bring him to me, I will immediately release the reward money in millions of pesos raised by car dealers who are mad at Yu who painted a very bad image on their business," said Duterte in a hastily-called press conference at the Grand Menseng Hotel here.

“Enough is enough for this man,” he said, adding that the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) can also join in the manhunt against the notorious carnap ring leader.

Present at the press briefing were chiefs of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Bureau of Immigration (BI), Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Highway Patrol Group (HPG) and the PNP Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU).

Duterte said they are still checking on the records of the BI if Yu was already out of the country as reports have it that he might be already in Thailand.

“We can’t yet say his location right now. If he is in Taiwan, we can easily coordinate there. If he is in Kota Kinabalu, we have also contacts there. The problem is in Thailand,” he said.

Duterte said he is also coordinating with transnational agencies for close coordination so that they can catch up on the wanted carnapper.

Duterte said he did not discount the possibility that Yu already assumed another identify after he was placed in the BI watchlist.

“Marunong kasi ito kaya possible talaga yan (He is very wise, that’s why, it is very possible)”, he said.

The vice mayor said he became furious after President Benigno Aquino III tried to contact him through Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, warning him for the alleged involvement of his son, Paolo Duterte, president of the Association of Barangay Captains, on the smuggling of Toyota Tundra Truck and Hummer.

He said he immediately confronted Paolo about it but the latter denied knowledge on the reported smuggling.

Paolo then turned his ire on Yu, after turned out that it was him who allegedly was responsible for the smuggling.

“He used to drop names. He is this good. But his world is getting smaller now,” Duterte said.

But the vice mayor warned that even he is on the run, Yu is still very dangerous because he is reportedly armed with high-powered MP5 firearm, Super .38 caliber revolver, Colt .45 caliber pistol and .9mm caliber pistol.

“Just be careful because if you can’t kill him, you will be the one to be killed,” he said. (PNA)