Bohol student apologizes for inventing kidnap story
TAGBILARAN CITY –– A Grade 7 student from Jagna town in Bohol province has admitted making up the story that he was kidnapped by men on board a black van.
The 13-year-old student asked the police forgiveness after the evidence gathered contradicted his narration.
The teenager didn’t explain why he made up the kidnapping story that alarmed parents in Jagna and neighboring towns.
Police Colonel Jonathan Cabal, Bohol police director, urged the public to be careful in spreading fake stories that would unnecessarily alarm the public.
The boy claimed that he was taken by a group of men on board a black van on Dec. 3.
He said the men, who wore masks, blindfolded him and made him smell something that made him pass out.
Article continues after this advertisementWhen he woke up, he was already in Carmen, which is about 50 km away from Jagna.
Article continues after this advertisementThe men threw him out of the van. A man, who saw him wandering around the town, took pity of him, and gave him P10.
He then went to his grandparents in Carmen who told his parents to report what happened to him to the police.
The police reviewed the footage of the closed-circuit television cameras installed around the areas where the boy claimed he was kidnapped on Dec. 3 but no black van was seen in the vicinity from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
When the police asked for more details, the boy claimed that the van was heading to the capital city of Tagbilaran.
The police reviewed the CCTV footage from Jagna traffic light on that date, but no black van was seen heading to Tagbilaran.
The boy later admitted that he made up the story and apologized to the police. /lzb
