Indian kidnap victim flees from captors in Lanao Sur

COTABATO CITY—An Indian national kidnapped in Maguindanao province last month outsmarted his captors and fled from captivity on Friday in a remote Lanao del Sur town, according to police on Monday.

Senior Supt. Madid Paicao, Lanao del Sur police chief, said businessman Krishan Singh Arora sneaked out of his kidnappers’ lair while the suspects were asleep.

Paicao said Arora studied the sleeping habits of the suspects and noticed that they slept at the same time.

Paicao said that when Arora became certain that he wasn’t being watched, he dashed out to safety and ran as fast as he could until he reached a coastal village in Lanao del Sur province, where fishermen saw him.

Chief Supt. Noel delos Reyes, police chief of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said residents of the fishing village of Parika in Sultan Naga Dimaporo town noticed Arora wandering in the village and asked the Indian where he was headed.

Delos Reyes said Arora told residents that he was a victim of kidnapping and asked for directions to the nearest police station.

He was taken to the Sultan Naga Dimaporo police office.

Arora was visiting a cash-strapped plywood factory he was helping rehabilitate in Barangay (village) Landasan in Parang, Maguindanao, when he was snatched by a group of gunmen wearing military uniforms.

The kidnappers had demanded P10 million in ransom but Paicao said the suspects ended up just spending for the upkeep of Arora and getting nothing in return.

Arora is the second Indian national snatched here and in Maguindanao in recent months.

In October, department store-chain owner Mike Khemani was also kidnapped while visiting a branch of his Sugni Superstore here.

He was freed with the help of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao