AFP suspects abductors from Sulu
THE MILITARY is looking into reports that the gunmen who abducted three Westerners and a Filipino woman from Samal Island in Davao del Norte province on Monday night are from Sulu province, a senior military officer said yesterday.
Around 800 policemen and elite Army troops, backed by the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard, were pressing the search for the gunmen, who may have taken their victims to Sulu.
The abductors are believed to be a group from Sulu, according to Lt. Gen. Aurelio Baladad, Eastern Mindanao Command chief.
“It might be possible that the
primary suspect is the Abu Sayyaf group but I would not immediately conclude that it is they ... It’s possible that it’s a group not the Abu Sayyaf but wanting to make money,” Baladad said.
Baladad did not provide details of ongoing operations for the rescue of Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino Maritess Flor, whom the gunmen snatched from Holiday Oceanview Marina on Samal Island on Monday night.
He said, however, that the military had a “good lead” on the kidnappers’ moves and whereabouts in eastern Mindanao.
Col. Restituto Padilla, spokesperson for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said the military had a cartographic sketch of one of the kidnappers, based on the statement of a Japanese tourist who was nearly abducted at the resort on Monday night.
Technical experts were also reviewing video from the security camera at the resort, enhancing the images to capture clear pictures of the gunmen, he said.
Padilla said the pursuit operations were mostly in Davao, where the gunmen and their captives were reportedly sighted.
Good leads not divulged
“We have good leads as to the location but we cannot divulge this,” Padilla said.
Sources from the military intelligence service said the gunmen could be from Sulu and may have taken the victims there.
The leader of the group could be Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, a subcommander of the al-Qaidalinked terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, the sources said.
Sawadjaan is in his 60s and commands a group of Abu Sayyaf members who are orphans of slain commanders and fighters of the terrorist group, the sources said.
The members of Sawadjaan’s group are mostly in their 20s, the sources said.
Patikul landing
The sources said military agents received information that a white speedboat docked at Barangay Kaunayan in Patikul, Sulu, on Tuesday night.
On the boat were known members of the Abu Sayyaf and with them were three Caucasians and a woman whose hands were tied, the sources said.
In an interview with Radyo Inquirer yesterday, Padilla confirmed an intelligence report published by the INQUIRER about a threat to abduct foreigners on Samal Island, but said the report was “two years old.”
The intelligence report obtained by the INQUIRER was dated Aug. 22 this year, issued by a foreign security agency based in the Philippines and working for multinational companies in the country.
Told that the old kidnapping plan could have been revived and carried out on Sept. 21, Padilla said, “We are not discounting that possibility.”
Another source said the Patikul group of the Abu Sayyaf worked with the Sibuco group of the terrorist organization, which cased Holiday Oceanview Marina on Samal Island.
“Last month, people arrived in Davao and went to Samal, posing as fishermen,” the source said.
Those people were from Sibugay and their leader was known as Commander Waning, who operated in Zamboanga and Davao, the source said.
Davao pursuit
Supt. Antonio Rivera, spokesperson for the Southern Mindanao Police Office, said an Army battalion and a Scout Rangers company were pursuing the kidnappers in the mountains of Davao Oriental province.
“Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft from the Air Force are conducting air patrols,” Rivera said.
Rivera said, however, that the authorities still had no definite information about the identities of the kidnappers.
As of yesterday, he said, the police and the military were still looking into the possibility that the kidnappers were either the communist New People’s Army (NPA) or a Moro rebel group called Bangsamoro Army or the Abu Sayyaf.
The Bangsamoro Army is an alleged splinter group of the Moro National Liberal Front.
The NPA has not issued a statement about the Samal kidnappings.
Capt. Alberto Caber, spokesperson for the military’s Eastern Command, said the “probability of the success” of the rescue operation was “very high.”
Caber said that based on “information about sightings,” the kidnappers and their victims were still in the Davao region.
“We cannot say where, because that would be like telling the suspects that we know where they are,” Caber said.
He said the military did not have information that the victims had been taken to the mountains of Southern Mindanao.
Real focus
But another military officer, who asked not to be identified for lack of authority to speak on the matter, said the rescue operations were focused on Davao del Sur and Sarangani provinces.
“It’s not in Davao Oriental or Compostela Valley,” the officer said.
Senior Supt. Federico Dulay, head of the Special Investigation Task Group Oceanview, said information had been received about sightings in Davao del Sur, but this was unverified.
“[Beyond] Davao del Sur is Sarangani, which is [Central Mindanao,” Dulay said.
He refused to disclose the locations of the sightings, as these needed verification.