/ stevenwarran's Library/ Notes/ May 9, 2002, The Philippine Star, Abu's No. 4 man faces 52 counts of kidnapping, by Roel Pareno and John Paul Jubelag,
May 9, 2002, The Philippine Star, Abu's No. 4 man faces 52 counts of kidnapping, by Roel Pareno and John Paul Jubelag,
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May 9, 2002, The Philippine Star, Abu's No. 4 man faces 52 counts of kidnapping, by Roel Pareno and John Paul Jubelag,
Police filed yesterday 52 counts of kidnapping with serious illegal detention and murder against a senior leader of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group who was arrested recently in Zamboanga City.
This developed as the Armed Forces' Southern Command (Southcom) turned over the suspect, Satar Yacub, to police authorities in Zamboanga City.
Yacub, also known as Abdullahjam Ngayah, was cited for his alleged participation in the March 20, 2000 abduction of 75 pupils, teachers and a Catholic priest in Barangay Tumuhubong in Sumisip town in the island province of Basilan.
Fr. Roel Gallardo and five teachers, some of them women, were later executed by the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers, while the young hostages were freed in exchange for food and medicines.
State Prosecutor Melchor Lim said Yacub also has a pending criminal case in a Basilan trial court.
Yacub was remanded to the custody of the Zamboanga City Reformatory Jail where more than 50 other Abu Sayyaf suspects are detained while awaiting trial of their cases.
At least 13 of Yacub's followers were killed during an encounter with elements of the First Special Forces Riverine Battalion that also sunk a motorboat being used by the bandits to sneak into Zamboanga City after fleeing Basilan.
Yacub, who was wounded in the gunbattle, escaped and hid in the village of Sinubong, but was captured a week later by government forces.
When presented to the court for inquest, Yacub claimed they were on their way to surrender when they were intercepted by the troops.
"We like to surrender because we felt that (Abu Sayyaf leaders) Khadafy Janjalani and Abu Sabaya have abandoned us and we were not given fair share (of the ransom payments)," Yacub said.
Meanwhile, a group of Abu Sayyaf bandits led by Isnilon Hapilon, the third highest ranking leader of the Islamist rebels, eluded arrest in Zamboanga City by fleeing their safehouse before a combined team of military and police operatives arrived.
But the raiders confiscated from the place P150,000 in P500 bills, two M-16 rifles, several rounds of ammunition for Armalite and various caliber pistols, a hand grenade and two motorcycles.
Chief Inspector Jose Bayani Gucela, head of the Zamboanga police's intelligence office, said they conducted the raid on a tip off from local residents that Hapilon's group were hiding in a house in Sitio Bangayan, Logoy Grande in Barangay Talon-Talon about seven kilometers from the city proper.
"We learned from informants that Hapilon and his companions were hiding in the safehouse," police said.
Gucela said witnesses identified Hapilon and his younger brother Bakkal, and five other followers were staying in the house owned by a certain Ustadz Daup Hadja Nidra Yahiya.
Sources in the intelligence community said Hapilon and his group were forced to leave Basilan to seek medical treatment for Bakkal who was seriously wounded in a firefight with government forces last March in Lantawan town in Basilan.
This prompted him to return custody of their hostages, American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipino nurse Deborah Yap, to Sabaya. The hostages have been held by the Abu Sayyaf for nearly one year now.
In another development, a regional trial court (RTC) in General Santos City reset the arraignment of another captured Abu Sayyaf leader and his three followers upon a motion by the prosecution.
RTC Judge Antonio Lubao granted the plea by Assistant State Prosecutor Antonio Tagami to gain more time to incorporate all the charges filed against Adzmi Sabdullah, alias Commander Global, and three of his henchmen lodged before the courts in General Santos City and Pasig City.
Global is currently jailed at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City, while his three co-accused -- Saltimar Sali, 17; Javier Sampang, 32; and Halik Sabdani, 23, all natives of Jolo, Sulu -- were incarcerated at the Davao Penal Colony in Davao City.
The four were arrested in a Muslim village in Barangay Calumpang, Davao City in July last year following a foiled attempt to kidnap foreign guests of the Pearl Farm Resort on Samal island.
Security personnel of the resort fought off the raiders, leaving two people dead.
The group of Global, who has a P5-million bounty on his head, was implicated in the abduction of 21 people, most of them Europeans and Malaysians, from the Malaysian resort of Sipadan in April 2000.
This developed as the Armed Forces' Southern Command (Southcom) turned over the suspect, Satar Yacub, to police authorities in Zamboanga City.
Yacub, also known as Abdullahjam Ngayah, was cited for his alleged participation in the March 20, 2000 abduction of 75 pupils, teachers and a Catholic priest in Barangay Tumuhubong in Sumisip town in the island province of Basilan.
Fr. Roel Gallardo and five teachers, some of them women, were later executed by the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers, while the young hostages were freed in exchange for food and medicines.
State Prosecutor Melchor Lim said Yacub also has a pending criminal case in a Basilan trial court.
Yacub was remanded to the custody of the Zamboanga City Reformatory Jail where more than 50 other Abu Sayyaf suspects are detained while awaiting trial of their cases.
At least 13 of Yacub's followers were killed during an encounter with elements of the First Special Forces Riverine Battalion that also sunk a motorboat being used by the bandits to sneak into Zamboanga City after fleeing Basilan.
Yacub, who was wounded in the gunbattle, escaped and hid in the village of Sinubong, but was captured a week later by government forces.
When presented to the court for inquest, Yacub claimed they were on their way to surrender when they were intercepted by the troops.
"We like to surrender because we felt that (Abu Sayyaf leaders) Khadafy Janjalani and Abu Sabaya have abandoned us and we were not given fair share (of the ransom payments)," Yacub said.
Meanwhile, a group of Abu Sayyaf bandits led by Isnilon Hapilon, the third highest ranking leader of the Islamist rebels, eluded arrest in Zamboanga City by fleeing their safehouse before a combined team of military and police operatives arrived.
But the raiders confiscated from the place P150,000 in P500 bills, two M-16 rifles, several rounds of ammunition for Armalite and various caliber pistols, a hand grenade and two motorcycles.
Chief Inspector Jose Bayani Gucela, head of the Zamboanga police's intelligence office, said they conducted the raid on a tip off from local residents that Hapilon's group were hiding in a house in Sitio Bangayan, Logoy Grande in Barangay Talon-Talon about seven kilometers from the city proper.
"We learned from informants that Hapilon and his companions were hiding in the safehouse," police said.
Gucela said witnesses identified Hapilon and his younger brother Bakkal, and five other followers were staying in the house owned by a certain Ustadz Daup Hadja Nidra Yahiya.
Sources in the intelligence community said Hapilon and his group were forced to leave Basilan to seek medical treatment for Bakkal who was seriously wounded in a firefight with government forces last March in Lantawan town in Basilan.
This prompted him to return custody of their hostages, American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipino nurse Deborah Yap, to Sabaya. The hostages have been held by the Abu Sayyaf for nearly one year now.
In another development, a regional trial court (RTC) in General Santos City reset the arraignment of another captured Abu Sayyaf leader and his three followers upon a motion by the prosecution.
RTC Judge Antonio Lubao granted the plea by Assistant State Prosecutor Antonio Tagami to gain more time to incorporate all the charges filed against Adzmi Sabdullah, alias Commander Global, and three of his henchmen lodged before the courts in General Santos City and Pasig City.
Global is currently jailed at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City, while his three co-accused -- Saltimar Sali, 17; Javier Sampang, 32; and Halik Sabdani, 23, all natives of Jolo, Sulu -- were incarcerated at the Davao Penal Colony in Davao City.
The four were arrested in a Muslim village in Barangay Calumpang, Davao City in July last year following a foiled attempt to kidnap foreign guests of the Pearl Farm Resort on Samal island.
Security personnel of the resort fought off the raiders, leaving two people dead.
The group of Global, who has a P5-million bounty on his head, was implicated in the abduction of 21 people, most of them Europeans and Malaysians, from the Malaysian resort of Sipadan in April 2000.
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