Four police officers in the Philippine capital have been arrested for kidnapping four foreign tourists and demanding a ransom, AP News reported. The officers stopped a luxury car carrying three Chinese and a Malaysian. With the help of armed civilians, they forcibly took the tourists into a van.
Two of the Chinese tourists managed to escape and alerted the authorities. The remaining captives were beaten but were released after a ransom of 2.5 million pesos ($43,100) was paid. The arrest of the police officers, including a police major, was made possible through information provided by the freed tourists and security camera footage.
The footage showed the kidnappers, one of whom appeared to be a police officer, stopping a car and forcibly removing the passengers in front of other motorists.
“I was shocked that policemen were the ones involved,”
Abalos said in a news conference.
“This incident is a serious breach of public trust and core values of the police force.”
Police are searching for at least 10 additional suspects who were involved in the kidnapping but were not law enforcement. The police have filed criminal complaints against the suspects for kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery. Former President Rodrigo Duterte had previously criticized many members of the national police force, which consists of over 230,000 officers nationwide, describing them as
“rotten to the core.”
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
