Woman abducted, freed

A 49-year-old woman was released yesterday aftrenoon in Arena Blanco after she was abducted by seven armed men in Sta. Maria last Wednesday night.

Delia Francisco, married, was fetched by policemen around 1 pm. and was taken to the Directortate Integration for POlice Operation (DIPO) in Sta. Barbara for custody.Francisco told the police that she was about to go to sleep in her rented house in Sta. Maria around 10 p.m. when a woman appeared and pretended to ask for something from her. When she went out of the house to talk to the woman, seven men alighted from a white van and dragged her to  their vehicle.Francisco said that one of the men punched her in stomach while the others hogtied her inside the car.She recalled that while she was aboard the van, she heard her abductors talking to somebody over the cell phone and were discussing about a pumpboat to ferry them to Basilan.She said they stayed in the van overnight and heard some of her abductors talking in Tausug and Chabacano.Francisco said she later heard her abductors saying that they commited a mistake in taking her instead of their target.At noon yesterday, Francisco said she was freed by her abductors in Arena Blanco. She was still hogtied and blind folded when policemen fetched her.Francisco was presented to Mayor Celso Lobregat yesterday afetrnoon by City Police Director Chief Supt. Amador Corpus. ? Dan Toribio Jr.

Via Zamboanga Times