Police say Talamban victim was robbed, not kidnapped

ALLEDGE ABDUCTION IN TALAMBAN/NOV.29,2017:Snr. Supt. Roldan Luna, from the Anti-Kidnapping Group, clarified during a press conference today, that the alledged abduction last Monday in Talamban was not a kidnapping.(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

Talamban police are coordinating with the Police Regional Office and the police precincts in Moalboal and Dumanjug towns to hunt down the robbers who made off with an elderly woman’s vehicle and valuables last Tuesday afternoon.

Senior Insp. Arieza Otida, Talamban police precinct chief, said what happened to Elizabeth Seniedo was a robbery, not a kidnapping.

He said they believe that the perpetrators are part of a robbery syndicate that is operating in the Visayas.

Otida said the 60-year-old Seniedo told them that she had withdrawn money from a mall in Barangay Talamban and headed to her car when two unidentified men held her up at gunpoint and told her to enter her vehicle.

They blindfolded her and they drove her to an undisclosed location, all while assuring her that she won’t be harmed since they only want her money.

Seniedo said one of the men told her that he needed money to pay for medical expenses for his wife’s pregnancy.

She said they stopped at an unknown area and they tied her to a tree with her head scarf.

Seniedo said the robbers sped away on board her light brown Fortuner with plate number AED-3357 along with P15,000 of her cash, her tablet, and Rolex watch worth P300,000.

Seniedo said she untied herself after the suspects left and managed to catch a bus ride headed to Moalboal town where she got off to report the incident to a police precinct. It was then that they learned of the incident, Otida said.

He also advised motorists to be extra careful especially during the holidays when robberies are more rampant. /Correspondent Benjie Talisic