Police rescued four people, including two children, in a day-long action-packed operation highlighted by a car chase and follow-up operations that spanned three provinces and the abduction of schoolchildren as human shields of the fleeing members of a kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) group.

The operation started as early at dawn on Thursday when members of the police elite anti-kidnapping unit Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER), managed to track down three KFR members and ended with the rescue of a seven-year-old kidnapping victim, their house help, the victim’s mother and a nine-year-old girl who were taken as human shield during a raid in Noveleta, Cavite at around 10 p.m. the same day.

Senior Superintendent Isagani Nerez, PACER commander, said the investigation they conducted revealed that the perpetrators are members a small-time newly formed KFR group who appeared to be high on drugs at the span of their illegal activity.

While Nerez requested that the names of the victims be withheld for security reasons as follow-up operations are still being conducted against at least three other suspects, he vividly depicted their entire operation.

Nerez said the group first abducted the boy and the house help somewhere in Kawit, Cavite, and immediately contacted his parents for ransom.

The group initially demanded P10-million but when the parents said they do not have money, they were instructed to meet with the kidnappers and bring the available money that they had.

At a meeting place somewhere in Cavite, the group boarded the couple’s sport utility vehicle along with their two victims and it was inside the car that negotiation for additional ransom was discussed.

The three members of the KFR group, along with the couple and their two victims, traveled from Cavite all the way to Gapan, Nueva Ecija, because they not yet agreed on the ransom.

Nerez said that at around 5 a.m., the tailing PACER operatives sought the assistance of the Bulacan Provincial Police Office after the couple’s car was seen going back to Cavite.

Two teams from the Bulacan Police were immediately dispatched after the vehicle did not pass the checkpoints that the cops set up in the key areas in the province, particularly in San Rafael town.

A running gun battle erupted in Bustos town in Bulacan after they sensed that they were being tailed by the policemen. It was then that the cops found out that the suspects were armed with M16 rifles and .45 pistols.

The gun battle deflated the vehicle that the KFR group was riding, prompting them to commandeer a white Nissan Urvan (WDX-174) along the road while constantly firing at the pursuing cops.

“It was at this point that they abducted two minors, both students of Cambaog Elementary School,” Nerez said.

The running gun battle went on but as the cops were merely targeting the tires of the car to avoid human collateral damage, the suspects eluded arrest.

The cops succeeded in deflating the second vehicle and this forced the gunmen to take another car, a Honda Civic, in Plaridel town.

One of the two school children taken as human shield, a 10-year-old boy, was released in the area as there was no more space to accommodate him inside the car.

Authorities lost the suspects somewhere en route Valenzuela City.

“We decided to lie low because we were worried about the safety of the hostages,” said Nerez.

“They were apparently high on drugs, because they were very confident in taking other civilians as hostages,” he added.

The Honda Civic was then seen abandoned in Barangay Tabang also in Plaridel town but witnesses said the KFR men commandeered a Ford Expedition in the area.

The Expedition was also found abandoned near the North Luzon Expressway Office in Bocaue but authorities learned that it was because the suspects took again another car, a Mitsubishi L-300 van.

“The move is apparently to confuse the pursuing teams. We found out that they (suspects) also disarmed an NLEX security guard of his issued shotgun,” said Nerez.

Local investigators in Bulacan also reported that the suspects also disarmed a rookie policeman of his 9mm pistol when he tried to stop the suspects in Marilao town. It was already 7:30 a.m. when the incident occurred.

At around 10 p.m. on Friday, PACER operatives received a tip that the suspects were spotted in Noveleta town, particularly in Barangay Salcedo 1. Responding police found the victims while the three other suspects were able to escape.

“We decided to let them (suspects) go because they were holding a taxi driver hostage. But pursuit operations are ongoing,” Nerez said, adding that a gun battle erupted during the incident.