Police eye rebel group as suspects in Zamboanga del Norte town mayor abduction

MANILA, Philippines—Authorities investigating on the abduction of 37-year-old Salug town Mayor Jeffrey Lim in Zamboanga del Norte Monday evening said they are looking into a rebel group whose method in victimizing its target has similarity to Lim’s case.

Superintendent Kenneth Mission, designated spokesman of Task Force Jeffrey, said that while the notion is yet to be established in further investigation, the suspects, he said, may be members of a rebel group, whose name he still can’t reveal to the media at this time.

He said police are still trying to figure out the motive behind Lim’s abduction, adding that the political background in Salug town is peaceful, and that “based on his personality,” he is apparently not receiving death threats.

Abductors have not contacted the family of the victim, he said.

Mission also said that based on the latest tracking of police and military, Lim and his abductors are still within Zamboanga del Norte.

An advisory from PNP spokesman, Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr., earlier said that Lim was abducted by roughly 10 armed men clad in green camouflage police uniforms at Salug town around 7:20 p.m. Monday.

Lim was reportedly eating outside a small restaurant in a bus terminal when the suspects snatched him at gun point. He was, at the time, without body guards, Mission said.

Cruz Jr. said Lim was forced to board a multicab van, which was later found abandoned and burned at Caracol village.