3 kidnap suspects killed in Laguna shootout

SAN PEDRO CITY-Three persons, two of them were Indian nationals, were killed in a shootout with policemen in Biñan City in Laguna province on Wednesday afternoon.

The police identified the slain suspects as Inderjit Singh alias Goldie, Rashpal Singh, and Filipino Wilbert Ong. Inderjit was allegedly the leader of the kidnap-for-ransom group responsible for the abduction of businessman Sanile Kumar Sohal, Biñan City police chief Supt. Jong Ramirez said.

The police earlier reported that Sohal, also an Indian national involved in a lending business, was kidnapped by armed men on Sunday morning in Barangay San Antonio, also in Biñan City. Witnesses said Sohal was forced into a white van that headed towards Sta. Rosa City.

Ramirez said they coordinated with the Anti-Kidnapping Group in Camp Crame that led to the rescue of Sohal from the suspects’ safehouse in Pasay City on Wednesday morning.

“The other members of the group, without them knowing that we already have the victim, continued negotiating with (Sohal’s) family and
agreed to meet near Southwoods exit this afternoon,” Ramirez said in a phone interview.

He said the kidnappers demanded P20 million as ransom.

The police set up a checkpoint near the Southwoods Exit of the South Luzon Expressway, until they noticed the suspects’ vehicle, a Toyota Corolla, pass by towards Barangay San Francisco around 1:30 p.m. The police attempted to flag down the vehicle but the passengers opened fire prompting the authorities to shoot them down.

Ramirez declined to detail how the victim was rescued, but said no one was arrested during the earlier police operation. He said three more
members of the group, who were not in the vehicle during the encounter, are being hunted down by the authorities.