IMUS, Cavite - Five kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) suspects were killed in a shootout with a joint police and military team following the rescue of three men, including two Indian nationals, before dawn Saturday in General Trias, this province. Senior Superintendent Danilo L. Maligalig, Cavite Police Provincial Office (PPO) director, said the three victims, namely Pavitter Singh, Balvir Singh and Luciano Clemen, were rescued unharmed. But police had to engage the suspects in a firefight that started at their hideout in Barangay Santiago and ended at a checkpoint in Barangay Daanghari, here. Three suspects died on the spot while the two others succumbed at Metro South Hospital in Molino, Bacoor, and De La Salle University Medical Center in Dasmariñas City. All of them remained unidentified as of press time Saturday afternoon. Scene of the Crime Operatives (SoCO) seized one 45-caliber pistol, a 9mm pistol, one .38-caliber revolver and a red Avanza car used by the suspects. The operatives also found two .45-cal. pistols at the suspects' hideout. The car reportedly belonged to one of the three victims.
Its license plates were recovered inside the vehicle. Maligalig said the rescue operation was conducted by a composite team of operatives from the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (PACER), the Cavite and Bulacan PPOs, the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), and the Armed Forces of the Philippines' Special Operations Group (AFP-SOG). The team traced the whereabouts of the Singhs and Clemen in Barangay Santiago with the help of a police informer. The rescue was made at 2:50 a.m. Saturday. Maligalig said that the three victims were reportedly kidnapped by the suspects at Liaz area in Marilao, Bulacan, at 2:35 p.m. last Thursday. The suspects demanded ransom for the release of the victims before the rescue was made, it was learned.
The lawmen prompted to shoot the suspects when they opened fire during the rescue at their hideout. Three suspects escaped aboard the car and were eventually killed in another exchange of gunfire after they resisted checkpoint policemen in this town.
