MANILA, Philippines - Philippine authorities said Monday they were searching for 3 South Korean men who had been kidnapped in the south of the country.
The 3 were last seen leaving a hotel in the southern trading city of Cagayan de Oro on October 21, accompanied by 3 Filipino guides, regional police director Felicisimo Khu said.
"The kidnappers have made contacts using the (kidnap victims') cellphones," Khu said in a statement issued to reporters.
Khu did not say who the kidnappers were, what they were demanding or whom they had contacted.
But he said police believed the 3 were being held in Lanao del Sur, a heavily forested province about 50 kilometers from Cagayan de Oro that is known to be a haven for a wide range of armed groups.
Another local police chief, Senior Superintendent Orlando Benas, said the 3 men were believed to have been scouting for mining opportunities.
A Muslim insurgency in the southern Philippines that has dragged on for more than 40 years has given birth to a wide range of Islamic militants, bandits and pirates, many of which regularly carry out kidnappings for ransom.
Foreign governments warn their citizens to avoid many parts of the southern Philippines because of the kidnap threats.
An official with the South Korean embassy's media office in Manila declined to comment on the missing trio when contacted by AFP on Monday.
Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/11/07/11/3-south-koreans-kidnapped-philippines
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