Security forces arrested two suspected members of a gang behind the abduction of a four-year-old boy last week in the southern Philippine city of Cotabato, an official said on Thursday.

City Mayor Muslimin Sema told reporters that the suspects, Naresh Maun and Mamarais Tubog, did not resist arrest when policemen stormed their hideout on Wednesday.

Sema said investigators are checking if the two are members of Pentagon, a kidnap-for-ransom gang for a string of previous kidnapping cases in the southern region of Mindanao.

"Our witnesses tag them as those who took the boy last week. There were firearms also recovered from the two," Sema said.

The young boy was kidnapped on June 25 when he was going back home from school on a private vehicle.

For previous kidnappings in the region, the Philippine authorities blamed "Pentagon," a group first gained notoriety on Oct. 17, 2001, when its members abducted Italian priest Guissepe Pierrantoni on his mission in Zamboanga del Sur province. Pierrantoni was released on April 8, 2002 after six months in captivity.

Source: Xinhua