Abu Sayyaf bandit falls

POLICE operatives have arrested an Abu Sayyaf bandit allegedly involved in the kidnapping and beheading of hostages 10 years ago in Sulu, a police official reported Wednesday.

Lamitan City police commander Chief Inspector Kenneth Balisang identified the arrested Abu Sayyaf bandit as Hadjer Arasani alias Injing and Jilking, who is facing kidnapping with serious illegal detention charges.

Balisang said Arasani was arrested around 2:45 a.m. Wednesday in the village of Tandung Ahas, Lamitan City, Basilan province on the strength of warrant of arrest for kidnapping and serious illegal detention.

The presence of Arasani in Tandung Ahas village was discovered through intensified intelligence operations, Balisang said.

He said that Arasani was involved in the kidnapping of six members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses on August of 2002 in Patikul municipality, Sulu.

The victims--four females and two males--were on a door-to-door sale of cosmetic products when Abu Sayyaf bandits seized them.

The two male victims were found dead a day after they were kidnapped. They were beheaded.

The rest of the hostages were rescued after weeks of military operations against the Abu Sayyaf bandits in the province of Sulu.

Arasani was also involved in a clash when the police forces raided a drug den in the village of Recodo, 15 kilometers west of Zamboanga City, Balisang said. (Bong Garcia)