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Man abducted, bound, set afire in car, Philadelphia police say

The victim is in critical condition after he was abducted in Wissinoming and then driven to Olney, where he was set afire in his car.

A bound man was set afire in this car  on the 5400 block of Westford Road, in the Olney section of Philadelphia, on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018.
A bound man was set afire in this car on the 5400 block of Westford Road, in the Olney section of Philadelphia, on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018.Read moreJESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer.

Police are looking for three attackers who abducted a man at gunpoint, bound him, and then set him on  fire inside his car Monday morning in Philadelphia's Olney section.

The victim was reported in critical condition at Temple University Hospital.

The three male assailants grabbed the 33-year-old Sunday night at Benner Street and Harbison Avenue in Wissinoming, bound his hands, and put him in his 2006 Pontiac, police said.

Capt. Mark Burgmann of the Special Victims Unit told reporters the three men drove him around in his car for several hours, all the while using the victim's phone, calling and texting to demand ransom from his family. "We did learn that a family member did begin to receive messages from our victim's phone from the people that abducted him demanding $10,000," Burgmann said.

About 5:40 a.m., the Pontiac stopped on the 5400 block of Westford Road in Olney. There, the three men poured gasoline on the man and the car, and set both on fire, police said.

Neighborhood residents who heard the man's screams called 911. A medic unit took him to Temple University Hospital with serious burns.

Police classified the incident as a robbery and abduction, but have not disclosed whether or why the man was targeted.