ZAMBOANGA CITY–Authorities have launched a pursuit operation to locate and rescue an employee of a marine products firm who was taken by gunmen in Zamboanga Sibugay early Tuesday.
Police Regional Office 9 (Zamboanga) information officer Chief Insp. Helen Galvez identified the victim as Laarni Bandi, who works as a secretary at the Cibeles Marine Product, and a resident of Talusan, Zamboanga Sibugay.
Cibeles Marine Product is in the business of buying and selling all kinds of marine products in the province.
Galvez said Bandi, 38, was kidnapped by seven gunmen in Purok Maabiabihon, Barangay Poblacion in Malangas town at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
He said investigations showed that Bandi was at the boarding house of Adilaida Bayno, when the suspects arrived and abducted the victim.
The victim, together with some co-workers and friends, had just arrived from a picnic in Muyong Island, Malangas.
Galvez said the gunmen, believed to be members of a kidnap-for-ransom group, dragged the victim to the shore and forced her to board a motorboat that sped off towards Muyong Island.
She said policemen, in coordination with the maritime police, coast guard and navy, immediately launched an operation at sea and in nearby islands.
Authorities have also conducted patrol and checkpoints in the mainland “for the possible apprehension of the abductors and recovery of the victim”, Galvez added. (PNA)
