January 7, 2005, The Philippine Star, Abu man: I snatched Gracia Burnham, by Roel Pareño, 

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ZAMBOANGA CITY — A captured Abu Sayyaf terrorist with a $25,000 reward on his head has confessed to taking part in the kidnapping of Americans Martin and Gracia Burnham and Guillermo Sobero, along with several Filipinos from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan three years ago. 

The reward was offered by the US government. 

At a press conference at Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) headquarters here, Toting Craft Hanno, alias Abu Jacarias, told Southcom chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza that he was one of the Abu Sayyaf bandits who barged into the cottage of the Burnhams at dawn of May 27, 2001 and dragged them out. 

"I was the one who took Gracia Burnham," he said in Filipino. "I barged into the cottage with four of my companions." 

Hanno, who was handcuffed during the press conference, said he and 27 other Abu Sayyaf kidnappers had raided the resort and surprised the American and Filipino tourists in their cottages. 

Some of the Abu Sayyaf bandits who had participated in the Dos Palmas raid have already sneaked out of the country, Hanno added. 

Hanno was collared at around 6:45 a.m. yesterday during a raid by military intelligence agents in Barangay Landang Gua on Sacol island off Zamboanga peninsula. 

Hanno had previously been captured during a military crackdown in Basilan on May 2002, but escaped from the Basilan provincial jail during a mass jailbreak on Black Saturday last year. 

Hanno was among 17 Abu Sayyaf bandits who were each meted out three life terms by the Basilan regional trial court in August last year. 

The military said Hanno was part of an Abu Sayyaf band that raided the Dr. Jose Torres Hospital in Lamitan, Basilan island in June 2001 during which dozens of people were kidnapped and some were later beheaded. 

"He is tagged to be involved in the kidnapping in Lamitan during the seige at Dr. Jose Torres Hospital last June 2, 2001," Braganza said. "Hanno is in the US reward list with a $25,000,00 bounty." 

Martin Burnham was killed along with Filipina nurse Ediborah Yap during a military recue operation in the jungles of Zamboanga del Norte in 2003, but his wife, Gracia was rescued and later flews home to the US. 

Sobero was beheded in the jungles of Basilan during the first months of the kidnapping in 2001. 

Hanno's arrest came just hours before US Embassy deputy chief of mission Joseph Mussomeli arrived in Zamboanga City to inspect projects funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), he added. 

Braganza said Hanno, who has been taken to Edwin Andrews Air Base here for interrogation, was spotted by a civilian informant last Dec. 26. 

"Apparently, he was lying low and confident he would not be arrested there," he said. 

Anti-terror agents did not find Hanno until he was arrested yesterday morning, he added. 

Braganza said Hanno will still be charged in court despite his help in tracking down the whereabouts of other Abu Sayyaf kidnappers. 

"He has to face the bar of justice regardless of what favor he will do for us for the neutralization of the others," he said. 

When Hanno was presented to reporters yesterday, unidentified US officials were present to verify his identity, but the Americans did not give any statement. 

The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for a series of kidnappings and bombings in Mindanao in recent years. 

Since 2000, they have kidnapped and ransomed dozens of foreign hostages. 

They also claimed responsibility for last February’s bombing of the SuperFerry 14 that killed over 100 passengers in Manila Bay off Corregidor. 

It has been linked by the Philippine and US governments to the Al-Qaeda terror network of Osama bin Laden. 

Meanwhile, Braganza said military intelligence is verifying the reported death of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafi Janjalani. 

"We have not absolutely confirmed his death," he said. 

The military is also checking reports that Janjalani has been going around under the name "Commander Umbok," Braganza said. 

In another development, a Malaysian military official said two Malaysians and an Indonesian seaman kidnapped off Sabah on April 11 last year have either been killed or have died of illness in Mindanao over the past two or three weeks. 

Gen. Mohamed Shahrin Abdul Majib, commander of Malaysia’s 5th Brigade, was quoted by Malaysia's national news agency Bernama as saying: "These three have been confirmed dead by December." 

Shahrin did not elaborate, but said Malaysia was seeking the help of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to search for the bodies of Malaysians Toh Chiu Thong, 48, and Wong Siu Ung, 52; and Indonesian Walter Sampel, 53. 

Last November, Philippine authorities recovered skeletal remains feared to be those of the men, but forensic examination showed they were not, Shahrin said. — With AFP