2 kidnapped Chinese rescued

TAGUM CITY—Police on Monday rescued two Chinese nationals working for a mining company in Surigao del Sur and killed one of their abductors during a gunfight, Governor Johnny Pimentel said.

Pimentel told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that a police officer was also wounded in the clash.

Pimentel said the Chinese nationals were in Barobo town when they were  snatched around 3 p.m. by a group of armed men.

He said responding policemen caught up with the kidnappers in Barangay (village) Tambis as they were fleeing and engaged them in a shootout.

After one of the suspects was killed, the other gunmen fled and left the victims behind.

“They were rescued after an encounter between policemen and the kidnappers,” he said.

Wire reports, however, said the Chinese nationals were abducted in San Francisco town in Agusan del Sur.

The Chinese nationals, who were identified as Li Defeng, 43, and Yang Liguang, 48, were rescued when police carried out a sting operation, which was disguised as a ransom payment drop.

Regional police deputy spokesperson Zena Panaligan told AFP that the two Guangxi province natives were seized at a friend’s home in  San Francisco on Saturday by members of a kidnap gang that demanded a million pesos in ransom, she said. Frinston L. Lim, Inquirer Mindanao and AFP

Originally posted at 06:07 pm | Tuesday, September 18, 2012