Cops save Indian man, Taiwanese girl

Two kidnap victims, an Indian national and an 11-year-old Taiwanese girl, have been rescued from their captors, the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced Monday.

Senior Supt. Renato Gumban, head of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Task Force, said the kidnappers of Indian businessman Gurtej Singh cut off part of his little finger, prompting his family to seek police help.

The victims and their families, who covered their heads with towels, were presented at Monday’s press conference by Gumban, PNP Director General Alan Purisima and Kukuen Chua of the Movement for the Restoration of Peace and Order (MRPO).

Four of Singh’s kidnappers were killed during the rescue operation on Jan. 4 in Barangay (village) Balasing, Santa Maria, Bulacan. Two of the kidnappers were identified as Wenie Olaivar, 27, and a certain Ariel. A woman was also arrested, Gumban said.

Singh and his wife, Kulwinder Kaur, were abducted by five armed men in Pulilan, Bulacan, on Dec. 22.

The couple’s relatives paid P227,000 to the abductors who released Kaur. The kidnappers, however, demanded P3 million for Singh. They cut off his little finger on his right hand and sent it to his wife.

On the other hand, the 11-year-old Taiwanese girl, a student at an exclusive school in Calamba City in Laguna, was abducted on Jan. 9 by five armed men wearing police uniforms from a village in Barangay Canlubang in Laguna.

The PNP said the girl was released on Jan. 11 in San Pablo City where operatives of the antikidnapping group recovered her without the family  having to pay ransom.