41.   Also on Saturday, Ebdane said his men arrested three members of another kidnap gang in an entrapment operation in Laguna province, south of Manila.

42.   And kidnap gangs continue to run riot in the depressed, Muslim-populated south where Muslim separatist rebels are active.

43.   Another Muslim kidnap gang, the Abu Sayyaf, is holding hostage an American missionary couple and a Filipina nurse in the island of Basilan.

44.   As a reward, Washington has extended military aid to help Arroyo crush other Muslim insurgent groups in the south, including the Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang.

45.   Barbers said police have identified major kidnap gangs, and have noted a rising incidence of bank robberies.

46.   Baluyot said the raid was carried out after a weeklong surveillance operation, during which intelligence operatives had positively identified Binago as a member of the Pentagon kidnap gang.

47.   Costa Rican authorities said Tuesday they were prepared to negotiate with an armed kidnap gang who abducted a German tourist and a Swiss national from a popular holiday resort.

48.   Five members of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang were killed in a clash with Philippine Marines in the southern island of Basilan on Friday.

49.   The Pentagon kidnap gang is composed mostly of former Muslim separatist guerrillas who are currently holding an Italian priest hostage somewhere in Mindanao.

50.   The rescue took place amid gunbattles with the Pentagon kidnap gang -- a group of rogue Muslim separatist guerrillas who have taken to banditry.