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Monday, December 08, 2003
Sayyaf leader 'Commander Robot' a ruthless kidnapper (12:42 p.m.)
MANILA -- Abu Sayyaf kingpin Galib Andang, captured in the southern Philippines late Sunday, is a ruthless leader and chief organizer of abductions for the feared kidnap gang.
Popularly known as Commander Robot, he was the architect of the much-publicized kidnapping of 21 hostages, including Europeans and other foreigners, in the neighboring Malaysian resort of Sipadan in April 2000.
Armed with machine guns, he and other Abu Sayyaf leaders brought the hostages by speedboat to his base in the southern island of Jolo and held them there for about a year.
In the end, the hostages were released, reportedly in exchange for millions of dollars in ransom paid by Libya.
Andang is known to be ruthless with his hostages, one of whom -- the son of a local doctor -- was beheaded after delays in ransom payments.
He had often posed for journalists, spraying fire from his assault rifle in the air, warning the military of serious repercussions if they attacked the group's hideouts.
Following the Sipadan spree, Andang, believed to be in his 40s, kidnapped a local teenage girl and forced her to marry him.
The 2001 terror attacks in the United States signaled a new hard-line stance against the Abu Sayyaf group, which is allegedly linked to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.
The United States declared the Abu Sayyaf a "foreign terrorist organization" and provided training and equipment to enable the Philippine military to gradually dissipate the group.
Following the military blitz, Andang and the other Abu Sayyaf leaders went deeper underground and kept a low profile.
Andang is the most senior Abu Sayyaf leader to be captured since the killing of his fellow leader Mujib Susukan in February.
Andang had sent surrender feelers last year, including an offer to give up his group's 100 M-16 rifles and other arms, but the military dismissed this as a trick.
Military chief Narciso Abaya said Andang had been planning another kidnapping to raise money when he was captured after being shot in the right foot.
"It was greed that did him in," Abaya said. (AFP) |
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