5 ‘kidnappers’ slain in shootout

By Mar T. Supnad, Aaron Cuenco and Freddie Lazaro

DAGUPAN CITY — Five suspected members of a group allegedly engaged in kidnap-for-ransom and robbery-hold-up activities were killed before dawn Wednesday in a shootout with lawmen on Lucao-Dawel Diversion Road in this city.

Chief Supt. Ramon V. Gatan, Region 1 police director, identified the dead suspects as Elisco Emuslan, 34, of San Andres Bukid, Manila; Jesus Matienzo Jr., 40, of Masbate, Masbate; Joey Tindugan, 34, of Mlang, North Cotabato; Glenn Ares, 32, of Caalibangbangan, Cabanatuan City; and Edgardo Estrella, 39, of Bagong Barrio, Caloocan City.

The suspects engaged in the shootout elements of the Region 1 police office, Presidential Anti-Crime Emergency Response, Regional Intelligence Office 1 and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

In a report, Pangasinan police director Senior Supt. Percival Barba said the Dagupan City police station received information that a kidnap-for-ransom gang will kidnap an unidentified person in Dagupan City or in the adjacent towns.

The suspects were later spotted by a Dagupan mobile patrol unit on board a white KIA KC2700 van without plate number in Bonuan-Binloc, Dagupan.

The van was reported to have been stolen the previous day while it was parked in front of a restaurant in A.B. Fernandez East, Dagupan.

Barba reported that when the suspects were about to be accosted by MPU policemen, the van sped off, prompting lawmen to give chase.

Cornered, the men inside the van fired at the lawmen, police said.

The law enforcers fired back, and the ensuing shootout resulted in the wounding of the five suspects.

Barba said the five wounded suspects were taken by a Dagupan City emergency medical team to the Region 1 Medical Hospital in Arellano District, Dagupan, but all were pronounced dead on arrival.

Police are verifying the suspects’ Armed Forces ID cards.

The syndicate, whose other members have yet to be neutralized, reportedly operates in central and northern Luzon and the National Capital Region.

The syndicate was tagged in the abduction of two teenage sisters here in 2007, the attempted kidnapping of a kindergarten pupil in Lingayen town in July 2008, and the robbery-holdup of an Indian national in Barangay Binday last June 13.

Police said it was also behind the robbery-holdups of a businessman in Barangay Cayanga and a salesman in Barangay Angio, both in San Fabian town, and the payroll heist at the National Irrigation Administration’s office in Aliaga town last June 30, and the robbery at a grocery store in Alibangbangan, Nueva Ecija on July 24.

Last May, joint teams of PACER, the Joint Special Operations Group and the CIDG-NCR monitored a group of dismissed soldiers planning to kidnap a wealthy businessman here or in San Fabian. To facilitate their plan, the gang stole a delivery van.

Recovered at the encounter site were the stolen delivery van, a caliber .45 Thompson submachine gun, a Cal. 45 Colt Mark, two caliber .38 Smith and Wesson revolvers, and an Uzi magnum 22.