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Thursday, September 01, 2005
Sipadan kidnapping suspect arrested in Basilan
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Military agents arrested a suspected member of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf implicated in the kidnapping of 21 mostly Asian and European holiday-goers, in Malaysia's Sipadan Beach Resort in its eastern state of Sabah five years ago.
Officials said Hajiri Tadja was arrested on Tuesday in Maluso town in the southern island of Basilan and was immediately brought by boat to Zamboanga City, where he is being interrogated.
Tadja was handcuffed and blindfolded when he arrived under heavy security in Zamboanga City.
"There is a warrant for his arrest. He was positively identified and subsequently arrested by military agents in Maluso town," Basilan military chief Brigadier General Raymundo Ferrer said.
Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen killed a pro-government militiaman and wounded three others in a clash Monday in the outskirts of Basilan's Sumisip town.
The fighting was triggered by an Abu Sayyaf ambush on a group of patrolling militiamen. The military tagged a former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leader-turned Abu Sayyaf commander, Amir Mingkong, as behind the ambush.
The military implicated Mingkong's group in the series of kidnapping and extortion in the island.
The Abu Sayyaf was blamed for Sunday's firebombing of the ferry m/v Dona Ramona that injured at least 30 people in Basilan's Lamitan town, and two more bombings in Zamboanga City earlier this month that left 26 civilians wounded.
The United States listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist organization. Washington also offered as much as $5 million bounty for the capture of known Abu Sayyaf leaders, including its chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, for the killing of two kidnapped US citizens in 2002 in the southern Philippines. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(September 1, 2005 issue)
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