Thursday, March 15, 2007 Authorities got wrong Sayyaf suspect? By Ulysses Israel
THE police are investigating reports of “mistaken identity” of a suspected Abu Sayyaf man arrested by military and intelligence officers last March 10, at the wharf of Isabel City, Basilan province.
A police official of the Basilan Philippine National Police (PNP) said investigation is being conducted on the claims of the relatives of Al Jakirani who was arrested by the military last Saturday on suspicion that he is Abu Usman, an Abu Sayyaf member.
The police official who spoke on condition of anonymity said in an interview that the relatives presented to the police proof of identity of Jakirani.
"The relatives showed documents identifying the arrested person as Al Jakirani and not Al-hari Jakiri alias Abu Usman as earlier claimed," he said.
"They claimed we got the wrong guy and pleaded for his release," he added.
The police official said Al Alih, who claimed to be a relative of Al Jakirani told police investigators it was Al Jakirani, 18, a pedicab driver and a resident of Barangay Malamawi in Isabela City, Basilan -- not the suspect Abu Usman -- who the military had arrested.
He said Alih further claimed that his nephew, Al Jakirani, was only 12-years-old then, selling cigarettes at the public market in Isabela City, when the siege at Golden Harvest Plantation happened.
A joint military and police team arrested last Saturday a suspected member of the Abu Sayyaf who is believed to be wanted for the kidnappings and killings of plantation workers in 2001 in the island province of Basilan.
Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, PNP chief for Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) had earlier identified the arrested as Al-hari Jakiri alias Abu Usman, who was among those wanted for the beheading of nine workers of the Golden Harvest Plantation in Tairan, Lantawan, Basilan.
The bandits seized the plantation workers to divert the military's attention from its pursuit operations against another group of Abu Sayyaf guerillas that seized 20 people, including three Americans from Dos Palmas, Palawan.
The Abu Sayyaf bandits also burned some houses of the plantation workers at the time they seized the farmers.
Goltiao said Abu Usman was arrested by combined elements from the navy, intelligence group, marines and the police.
Abu Usman is facing three counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention, Goltiao said.
Nine people were beheaded -- one was shot dead while 30 others were abducted -- when Abu Sayyaf gunmen raided the Golden Harvest Plantation in 2001.
The suspect was first placed under the custody of the Western Mindanao Command headquarters in Upper Calarian, Zamboanga City to undergo tactical interrogation. Then he was brought to the Provincial Jail to face the charges filed against him in court.
The Basilan police official said if it can be proven that the wrong guy was arrested, the police will act accordingly - the jailed Al Jakirani will be released. "But we are still investigating the claims of the relatives," he said.
He said the relatives have informed the Office of the Commission on Human Rights about the arrest.
