Alleged kidnap-for-ransom gang leader killed in Bulacan

PNP AKG’s Senior Superintendent Roberto Fajardo. JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS

AN ALLEGED leader of a kidnap-for-ransom group operating in Metro Manila and nearby provinces was killed after he shot it out with police in Bulacan.

Rene Natad, tagged by police as one of the most wanted kidnappers in the country, was gunned down on Wednesday while allegedly resisting arrest at his hideout in Sitio (sub-village) Duplas, Barangay (village) Kalawakan in Dona Remedios Trinidad town.

Senior Superintendent Roberto Fajardo, Philippine National Police’s Anti-Kidnapping Group chief, said Natad started as a member of “Ipit-taxi gang,” a modus operandi of robbing taxi passengers. Police said he then eventually “mutated” into leading a kidnap-for-ransom group.

“Actually, nagsimula siya sa Ipit-taxi na nag-mutate into kidnapping so in 2014 kasama siya sa Top 10 ng most wanted  kidnapping suspects,” Fajardo said in a press briefing on Thursday.

Natad’s gang was the same group that abducted and murdered 21-year-old Korean national Ji Won Lee in March 2014. He was a former member of the “Buenaobra kidnap group” that was dismantled by the police in the past.

Fajardo said the AKG, with the Intelligence Group of the PNP, has been conducting surveillance on Natad since last year.

On Wednesday afternoon, the AKG operatives and local policemen served on Natad the arrest warrant for kidnapping-with-ransom with homicide issued  by Judge Paulino Gallegos of the Manila regional trial court Branch 47.

But the suspect was killed as he allegedly engaged policemen in a shootout while attempting to escape.

Recovered from the crime scene was a .38 caliber pistol with four spent shells and one live ammunition.

Natad’s remains was brought to T.L. Gregorio Funeral Services at Calumpang, San Miguel, Bulacan. AC