Kidnappers kill Manila-based trader

COTABATO CITY—The Manila-based businessman kidnapped by an armed group in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao, was found dead late Friday, authorities said.

Chief Insp. Lindsay Sinsuat, Datu Odin police chief, said the body of Dominador Berdin was recovered in a creek in Barangay Kalanganan II here, which borders the city and Datu Odin Sinsuat, around 3 p.m.

Sinsuat said children playing near the Kinagatan Creek found the body floating in the water.

Investigators said the body bore two bullet wounds.

Sinsuat said two suspects earlier arrested confirmed that the body found in the creek was that of the same man they snatched on Thursday from a resort in Datu Odin Sinsuat.

Berdin, described as a gold trader from Mandaluyong, was to meet a contact at the resort when he was kidnapped, according to police.

The armed men forced Berdin into a small truck. Two of the suspects, later identified as Norodin Andil and Ryan Usman Diwang, were left behind and arrested.

Chief Insp. Sinsuat said the description given by the arrested suspects of the man they kidnapped matched the characteristics of the body found in the creek.

Sinsuat said Berdin’s kidnappers could have been forced to kill him as police and soldiers closed in on them.

“We have received reports that they were trapped,” said Sinsuat. He said the suspects couldn’t get out of Cotabato City “that’s why they executed their captive.”

Kidnappings here and in nearby areas, including Maguindanao, were usually blamed on the Pentagon kidnap for ransom gang.

The Pentagon gang was founded in the 1980s by former Moro National Liberation Front commander Faizal Marohombsar.

The gang was behind high-profile kidnappings and targeted mostly foreign Catholic missionaries.

From January to July, at least three businessmen were kidnapped from this city alone by suspected Pentagon gang members and were mostly kept in Maguindanao during their ordeal. Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao