MANILA — A Japanese tourist has been rescued after he was held captive for more than two weeks, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Tuesday.
Yuji Nakajima, 32, single, and resident of 3-15-9, Higashimukojima, Sumida-ku, Tokyo, Japan, was kidnapped last March 22 and rescued last April 5, after Supt. Takayashi Nakayama of the Japan National Police Agency, along with three representatives of the Embassy of Japan, sought the assistance of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG).
AKG teams, together with the embassy representatives, safely rescued Nakajima and a certain Verhel Lumague in Plaridel, Bulacan.
Follow-up operations resulted in the arrest of three more suspects, namely Roberto Reyes, 54 and Reggie Reyes, 47, both residents of Santolan, Pasig City; and Miyashita Takeshi, a Japanese fugitive.
Takeshi’s passport was cancelled on Sept. 11, 2015. He is a resident of Koiwa Edogawa, Tokyo, and currently resides at 1711 East Rio, Asure Condominium, Paranaque City.
“Continuous manhunt operations are still being conducted by AKG operatives to arrest other suspects involved in the abduction of Yuji Nakajima,” PNP Director General Ronald dela Rosa said.
Senior Supt. Glenn Dumlao, PNP-AKG director, said the victim was ordered kidnapped by an erstwhile business partner.
“He has a companion named Usuke Obara. Now, based on the investigation that we conducted, we found out that the victim was set up by his friend. They were former business partners and allegedly, they had a rift. When the victim was in the hotel, the Reyes brothers knocked at his room and asked him to come down because Takeshi, the Japanese suspect, will talk to him,” Dumlao narrated in Filipino.
“The victim said he doesn’t know Takeshi. He called Usuke Obara who already returned to Japan last March 24. When he called him, Obara told him to go with the suspects. The victim came out of his room and he was invited by the suspects to go to Bulacan, where he was held captive. We got vital information on the case through the call of the victim’s family and the Japanese embassy,” he said.
The suspects yielded a firearm. A fake National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) identification card was also seized from the elder Reyes, who purportedly claimed to be a former NBI agent.
The PNP-AKG said they are pursuing two other Filipino suspects while Japanese authorities are hunting down Obara, who allegedly negotiated the ransom demand with the victim’s family in Japan. (PNA)
