MANILA, Philippines (2nd Update) - Unidentified assailants kidnapped a Swiss-born businessman in Zamboanga City on Easter Sunday, a military official said.

Initial reports from Task Force Zamboanga said 5 to 9 armed men sneaked onto the resthouse of victim Charlie Reith, 72, at Sitio Parkampo, Barangay Patalon, west of Zamboanga City at around 6 p.m.

A caretaker said Reith was drinking liquor with a German friend when the abductors arrived. He said the German was left behind after he passed out.

Col. Santiago Baluyot said Reith was forced  to board a pumpboat, which sped off with the assailants to a still unknown direction. The caretaker said the kidnappers also took the victims' cell phones, wallet, car keys and jewelry.

Reith reportedly owned a sand and gravel business in the same village, but previously managed a large piece of land.

Police gave no details as to the motive but Muslim rebels and bandits frequently carry out kidnappings for ransom in Zamboanga and other parts of the volatile southern Philippines' Mindanao region.

The Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines' history, is the most infamous group that operates in Mindanao and is well-known for kidnapping foreigners as well as locals.

They have beheaded American hostages in the past, and reaped major ransom bonanzas for snatching foreigners.

However, there are many small groups of bandits who similarly kidnap people assumed to have money in the hope of securing ransom payments.

A local policeman, who asked not to be named, said the gunmen who abducted Reith were seen speeding away in the direction of Basilan island, a well-known Abu Sayyaf lair but also home to other bandits.

He said Reith was married to a Filipina and had been living in the Philippines for decades.

Reith was a well-respected member of the local community, according to Erico Fabian, a Zamboanga representative in the national parliament who said he was a close friend of the abducted man.

"Mr. Reith is a civic-minded person and a permanent fixture in business circles here," Fabian told reporters.

"I personally condemn this abduction because this guy is old and has done no wrong, only good, to the city."

In December last year, Abu Sayyaf militants beheaded a local businessman on Basilan island after not receiving a ransom payment they had demanded.

Another case last year that made world headlines was the kidnapping of elderly Irish priest Michael Sinnott from a nearby city in Mindanao.

Sinnott, then 79, was released after being held for a month in Mindanao's jungles.

The Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a rebel group that has been waging a decades-long separatist insurgency in the southern Philippines, were initially the prime suspects in Sinnott's abduction.

However he said afterwards his abductors had told him they were from a nomadic tribe who converted to Islam in the 13th century and wanted extra money from a potential ransom for their own armed struggle against authorities. With reports from Agence France-Presse and Jewel Reyes and Leila Vicente, ABS-CBN News Zamboanga