Abu Sayyaf frees 2 Indonesians

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Two Indonesian sailors kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf bandits in 2016 were released in Sulu on Friday.

La Utu bin La Raali and La Hadi La Edi, captains of two Malaysian fishing vessels, were escorted by ”unidentified emissaries” to the house of former Sulu governor Abdusakur Tan Sr. in Barangay Asturias, Jolo at about 7:30 p.m., reports reaching the Joint Task Force Sulu showed.

Tan alerted the task force on the release of the Indonesians after providing them with food and other necessities.

The Indonesians were brought to a military hospital at Camp Bautista in Barangay Busbus for medical checkup.

The military did not give details on the circumstances leading to the release of the sailors.

Raali and Edi were snatched in the waters off Kuala Kinabatangan in Sabah near Taganak island, Tawi-Tawi on Nov. 5, 2016.

The Abu Sayyaf is still holding three other Indonesians who were taken with four other crewmembers of a fishing boat off Merabong near Kunak district in Sabah on Nov. 19, 2016.

A Dutch man, a Vietnamese and four Filipinos remain in the hands of the bandits.

With 11 additional battalions deployed in Sulu, the military has intensified its operations to neutralize Abu Sayyaf bandits and rescue their remaining hostages.

Sayyaf man falls

Meanwhile, Faizal Attong Sariul, alias Ziad, 35, a native of Barangay Landang Laum on Sacol island, was arrested in a village near a police camp in this city also on Friday.

Sariul has a standing warrant of arrest for kidnapping and serious illegal detention for taking Golden Harvest plantation workers in Barangay Tairan, Lantawan, Basilan on June 11, 2001, Chief Superintendent Billy Beltran, Zamboanga peninsula police director, said yesterday.

Sariul is the fourth Abu Sayyaf bandit arrested in connection with the Golden Harvest kidnapping in the past week.