Alleged ringleader of kidnap-for-ransom group nabbed in Las Piñas

From gmanetwork.com:

Police have arrested the alleged ringleader of a kidnap-for-ransom group in an operation in Las Piñas City on Sunday evening.

A statement by the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group on Monday identified the suspect as Martin Lico, who was arrested following joint operations of the police and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC).

Lico was implicated in a number of kidnap-for-ransom incidents in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, including the kidnapping and murder of businessman Jose Saribong and his driver in Antipolo City in 2012.

Lico, who reportedly uses the aliases “Romeo Buluran,” “Bogart,” “Aldreen Daat,” “Sergeant Mutia,” “Romeo Hernani,” and “Paul,” escaped from the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, where he was serving time for a homicide conviction, on Feb 5,1994, the PNP said.

Aside from the Bogart kidnap-for-ransom group, he was also alleged to be a member of the Alferez organized crime group and the Ozamis robbery hold-up and kidnap-for-ransom group operating in Luzon and Mindanao.

Aside from kidnapping and murder cases, Lico was also facing a number of robbery cases for his alleged involvement in at least seven robbery cases mostly of banks from 2003 to 2011.

From January to August this year, PNP recorded 19 incidents of kidnapping. To date, the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group has arrested 18 suspected kidnappers since January. —Rouchelle Dinglasan/KBK, GMA News