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Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Gang ‘out to kidnap two Cebu hardware owners’
The Cebu City government is offering a P50,000 reward for those who could provide additional information on four men authorities arrested Sunday morning, as police said the goup appears to be a kidnap-for-ransom gang.
Intelligence reports say the four suspects were out to kidnap two hardware owners in Cebu, said a senior military commander yesterday.
“The Military Intelligence Group (MIG) 7 said it’s kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) group planning to abduct two personalities-big hardware owners-here in Cebu,” said Colonel Rodolfo Santiago.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña admitted some anxiety: “It is a very dangerous situation because it is a group operation that has a capability of much higher sophistication than the ordinary criminals. They can even forge ID cards, mission orders.”
But Intelligence and Investigation Division 7 Chief Augusto Marquez downplayed the arrest of a gang inside the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) saying they still needed to prove they were members of kidnap-for-ransom gang.
Marquez and Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) Chief Pablo Labra II, in separate interviews, said they have not received information of a KFR group’s presence in Cebu.
Asked if kidnapping was a potential threat to security in time for the Asean summit, Labra said this was a remote incident and that they were focused on possible terrorism attacks.
The suspects were identified as Ronald Dando Pepino, 24; Jessie Rueras Pepino, 34; Richard Gulfan Orayan, 31; and Crisologo Peña Puzon, 33.
The Pepinos and Orayan reportedly managed to get through airport security by showing fake identification cards.
Ronald was arrested at the arrival area last Sunday morning, when airport policemen found out he wasn’t an MIG agent. His brother Jessie and Orayan, on board a car, tried to rescue him but were also arrested.
Two of their companions - a man and a woman - reportedly managed to get out of the car and mingled with the crowd, until police lost them.
Seized from the three were an M-16 rifle, two .45 pistols, five magazines a .45 pistol, two magazines for M-16 rifle, 47 pieces of live ammunition for .45 pistol and 60 pieces of live ammunition for M-16.
The Pepinos were found possessing fake ISAFP and PNP identification cards. Orayan had none.
Puzon, posing as a military confidential agent, was arrested Sunday night when he went to the PCAS office seeking the release of the three suspects. He also used a bogus identification card.
So far, only a usurpation of authority charge was filed against Puzon.
The Lapu-Lapu city prosecutor is yet to resolve the illegal gun possession complaint against the Pepino brothers and Orayan.
The two Pepinos are also facing usurpation of authority charges for the fake identification cards.
The group was initially suspected of planning to assassinate a Cabinet official at the airport’s domestic arrival area, or disrupt preparations for the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) summit this December.
Mayor Osmeña, though, discounted the possibilities.
He said the men had with them a lot of ammunition, which is not typical of an assassination plot.
And to discredit Cebu as Asean summit host, the suspects would only have to bomb malls instead of going out of their way to the airport and give themselves a hard time bypassing security, the mayor said.
Asked if it is still premature to offer a cash reward, the he said it is important to establish who those persons were.
The mayor said the City has to come up with an aggressive measure because he believes the four men really belonged to a group capable of a big-time kidnap operation.
But Marquez believes otherwise, saying there was no evidence to link them to KFR activities.
He said the report was exaggerated, as they were merely caught in possession of firearms that had no licenses.
Marquez expressed worry that the report of the KFR gang in Cebu will alarm the business sector.
Marquez held a conference with intelligence officers of the Lapu-Lapu City police and the Cebu provincial police yesterday, after they were sent to hold a tactical interrogation.
They were joined by Supt. Labra, whom Supt. Melvin Gayotin tasked to find out if the group had any companions in Cebu City.
Police are also checking if the group has any prior record in Luzon or Mindanao.
Labra assured that there are no known KFR gangs operating in Cebu.
The last time a kidnapping incident reached the public in Cebu City was last December, when Sun.Star Cebu reported that the son of a wealthy Carbon Public Market trader was abducted at gunpoint in Tabo-an Public Market the month before.
The family did not report the incident to the police and instead paid P7.5 million as ransom.
Police investigators said the family refused to cooperate with them in the investigation.
Yesterday, the mayor said KFR groups always have local contacts who identify their targets.
The local contacts would then approach a financier, often a criminal syndicate, which will provide the men and the arms to carry out the crime. (OCP/RHM/MEA)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 8, 2006 issue)
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