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Saturday, June 04, 2005
Fishing magnate's daughter missing
By Edwin G. Espejo
GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- A 19-year-old daughter of a prominent tuna-fishing operator in this city is reportedly missing and is believed abducted by still unidentified men.
According to the latest reports, Sheila Granfon, eldest daughter of tuna fishing magnate Trece Granfon, was last monitored Thursday evening at the KCC Mall of General Santos before she went missing.
Her car was found abandoned near London Beach Resort in Barangay Bawing, some 20 kilometers away from the city proper.
Police and local authorities here have imposed a news blackout although a Sun.Star source said police operatives are conducting hot pursuit operations.
It was not clear however where police operatives were headed to.
The family of the missing teenager also refused to grant interviews to the local media.
Some two months back, police intelligence operatives here confirmed reports there were some men who were planning to kidnap prominent residents in General Santos.
Among those in the kidnap list are the Granfons. The police here are reportedly checking if the disappearance of Sheila is related to the threats reported by the local media several months back.
The last prominent kidnapping incident in the city was that involving dentist Dr. Josefina Montecillo in December 2002.
Montecillo was recovered just outside the city less than a week after her family reportedly paid P1.5 million in ransom to her abductors.
Other city residents who were abducted by armed men were Jose Uson and Carlos Belonio.
Uson was snatched by several armed men in his fishpond farm in Alabel, Sarangani in 2001 while Belonio was held at gunpoint in Barangay Malisbong in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat together with Korean national Kim Jae Yoon in February 2003.
The identities of the kidnappers of Montecillo and Uson remain a mystery while the Abu Sufia gang claimed it was behind Belonio's abduction.
On the Granfon kidnapping, source said police have already invited the boyfriend of the 19-year-old for questioning.
According to the source, the man, whose identity is being withheld for security reasons, was not with Sheila the day she went missing.
Sheila reportedly drove home her other siblings and went to KCC Mall and from there called her house at around 6 p.m. Thursday. That was the last contact made between her and her family.
Police authorities found her car at around 8 a.m. Friday. |
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