Mindanao’s top kidnap leader nabbed

COTABATO CITY—A man tagged one of Mindanao’s most wanted kidnappers was arrested by lawmen early on Sunday while walking along a street in a neighborhood west of this city.

Khadafy Guimelon, also known as Commander Pilandok, has been implicated in some 30 kidnapping cases in Central Mindanao and in Thursday’s bloody pawnshop robbery in Koronadal City. He is third on the list of the Philippine National Police Antikidnapping Group (AKG) in Mindanao.

Guimelon and his followers are said to be remnants of Central Mindanao’s once-feared kidnapping syndicate led by Abogado Gado, also known as Commander Mubarak, Kagui Musa Ali and Mayangkang Saguile. The three were reportedly involved in the kidnapping of more than 70 people, mostly Chinese engaged in big businesses in the region, in the early 1990s.

Mubarak was killed in 1993 by policemen and Marine soldiers in Pantukan town, Compostela Valley, while Ali, of Kabuntalan town, Maguindanao province, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen near the Cotabato City supermarket area in 1999. Saguile was last reported as suffering from a debilitating illness.

Senior Supt. Rolen Balquin, Cotabato City police director, said Guimelon was arrested on Pansacala Street by members of the Koronadal City police, the AKG, the Presidential Antiorganized Crime Commission and the Army’s 5th Special Forces Battalion.

Informants confirmed that in several instances, the suspect stayed in a slum area behind MC Square, a small trading complex along Sinsuat Avenue.

Guimelon is now being questioned on his reported involvement in the Sept. 18 attempt to rob Agencia Brillantes, a pawnshop on Osmeña Street in Koronadal.

Two security guards were killed while two watchmen from nearby establishments were shot and wounded when they tried to prevent the robbers from escaping. Two minors were wounded in the crossfire.

Guimelon was the subject of two arrest warrants issued separately by Judge George Jabido of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 15 and Judge Bansawan Ebrahim of the RTC Branch 14 in Cotabato City. Edwin O. Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao