Armed group kidnaps engineer-businessman in Bukidnon

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – An armed group kidnapped an engineer-businessman in Bukidnon province on Friday, August 13, police authorities confirmed.

Lieutenant Colonel Michelle Olaivar, the spokesperson of the police in Northern Mindanao, said the kidnappers demanded a P2-million ransom from the wife of the victim, Engineer Abdel Fahar Mapandi, hours after he was abducted in Kalilangan town, Bukidnon.

“We have identified his (Mapandi’s) childhood friend as the suspect,” Olaivar said.

In an initial report, the Kalilangan police said armed men, some dressed in police blue sportswear and fatigues, barged into the house of town resident Omar Bayabao where Mapandi was sleeping at 3 am on Friday.

Police said the suspects dragged the victim to a vehicle and sped off toward the nearby province of Lanao del Sur.

The suspects used a black Toyota pickup truck, a white Toyota Hi-Ace van, and a Toyota Vios sedan, police said.

“Along the way, the victim called his wife using the mobile phone of his friend and told her that his abductors wanted a ransom of P2 million,” Olaivar said.

Olaivar said Mapandi was in Kalilangan town after he secured a deal with a telecommunications company that recently bought several real estate properties for their communication towers.

She said the suspected mastermind, who was a business partner of the victim, suspected that the property he and his friend sold commanded a higher price, and he was kept in the dark.

“The suspect thought Mapandi kept the rest of the money from him. That’s the motive,” said Olaivar, adding that the suspect was wrong about his suspicion.

Olaivar said the police in Bukidnon and Lanao del Sur were collaborating to secure the release of Mapandi. – Rappler.com