Manila: A Japanese national, residing in the Philippines since 2009, was released by his kidnappers on Tuesday in Cavite, southern Metro Manila, after three days of captivity, police said.
Hayato Sumi, 42, was freed at 1.30am Tuesday in Metro Manila’s southern suburb, police said. The Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group is investigating. It has been coordinating with Sumi’s family.
The kidnappers had demanded P5 million (Dh416,666) as ransom for his release, police said.
“It is not known the family complied with the unidentified kidnappers’ demand.
On Saturday, two men kidnapped Sumi and took him away in a white sport utility vehicle near his home at Don Bosco Village in Paranaque City, Metro Manila, police said.
This is the first time in more than 25 years that a Japanese national was kidnapped in the Philippines.
In November 1986, Noboyuki Wakaoji, an executive of Mitsui and Co, was abducted from a golf course in Canlubang, Laguna.
There were reports that the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New Peoples’ Army, with the help of the Japanese Red Army, plotted his kidnapping in the so-called ‘Operation Customer’.
He was released on December 17, 1986 in Quezon City after $3m was paid as ransom.
In November 2010, one of Wakaoji’s abductors, Rolando Fajardo, was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City. There was a P1 million reward for his arrest. He was part of a gang that was also engaged in stealing cars in the 1980s and 90s, investigators said.
