Police Nab 11 in QC Trader's Kidnapping

Police rescued a 78-year-old businesswoman and arrested 11 suspects, including three former soldiers, in what authorities described as a "bungled" kidnapping attempt that ended in a bank in Quezon City on Thursday.

- - With Emmanuel Tupas, Ghio Ong

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said the victim, a widow from a prominent family in the industrial sector, was abducted on Sept. 2 and held for nine days.

Her captors initially demanded P150 million in ransom. On Sept. 11, they brought her to a bank in Quezon City to withdraw P8.1 million from her account.

The bank staff who had been alerted by the family immediately contacted police.

Members of the Police Anti-Kidnapping Group arrived within two minutes, arrested three suspects and rescued the victim unharmed.

Follow-up operations led to the arrest of eight more suspects—three women and five men—in Batangas and Cavite within 12 hours.

In all, 11 suspects were apprehended, including three former military personnel—two that were honorably discharged from the Marines and one dishonorably discharged from the Army.

Remulla said the group appeared amateurish.

"The mere fact that they brought the victim to the bank shows that their level of sophistication is very low," he said during a press briefing at Camp Crame, describing the case as a "comedy of errors" and praising the swift police response.