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Former Italian missionary abducted in Philippines

Thursday, 08 October 2015 5:49 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 08 October 2015 5:49 AM ]

The file photo shows Italian national Ronaldo del Torchio, who was abducted by armed man in southern Philippines on October 7, 2015.

Security forces have launched search operations aimed at finding an Italian national abducted by gunmen in the southern Philippines.

Officials said on Thursday that at least six armed men had abducted Ronaldo del Torchio, a former Catholic missionary, from his restaurant in the city of Dipolog in Zamboanga del Norte Province the night before.

According to Dipolog police chief superintendent Ranie Hachuela, the unidentified gunmen forced del Torchio into a van and took him to the coast, where they put him into a motor boat and left.

Task Force Zamboanga said the group moved west toward the coastal area of Manukan.

Del Torchio, 56, has been living in the Philippines for years.

On September 21, gunmen kidnapped three foreigners, including a Norwegian and two Canadians, as well as a Filipino woman, at gunpoint on the southern Samal Island.

The southern Philippines has been dealing with militancy for years.

In 2001, the country’s Abu Sayyaf militant group made a failed attempt to abduct foreign tourists on Samal Island’s Pearl Farm resort, which resulted in the deaths of three security forces. In the early 2000s, the militants abducted dozens of foreigners and Filipinos from different resorts as part of a ransom-kidnapping spree.

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