ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 10, 2012) – After saying that a kidnapped Indian national was executed by Abu Sayyaf rebels, Philippine police on Friday said it has recovered the foreigner who escaped from his captors in the southern province of Sulu.
Sulu police chief Antonio Freyra said Biju Kolara Veetil, 36, was spotted by civilians at around 3 a.m. after escaping from his kidnappers in the town of Patikul.
He said Veetil was handed over by civilians to village officials who then phoned Gov. Sakur Tan and informed him about the escape of the foreigner. Tan dispatched police forces to fetch Veetil and brought him to hospital.
“Veetil is frail and weak, but he is recovering now. We are glad that he is alive. He told us that he escaped from the kidnappers. We are trying to get more information about his escape and the people who kidnapper him,” Freyra told the Mindanao Examiner.
Police in March reported that Veetil could have been executed by the militant group tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya.
It said Veetil’s wife, Elena Asanji, then would not speak to the police about the fate of the foreigner. Police said the woman’s family had earlier paid at least P800,000 to the Abu Sayyaf for Veetil’s safe release.
Veetil and his wife were visiting the woman’s family in the village of Tempok in Patikul town when four gunmen seized the foreigner in June last year.
He said a Malaysian gecko trader – Mohammad Nasaruddin Bensaidin – who was also kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf in April last year, had been released after a local negotiator paid ransom to the gang.
The kidnappers had originally demanded P5 million ransoms for his safe release.
The 38-year old Malaysian arrived in Sulu in April last year from Kuala Lumpur and had been living in a house in the village of Kajatian in Indanan town when he was kidnapped.
Another Japanese hostage, Katayama Mamaito, 63, is still being held by the Abu Sayyaf. Mamaito, a treasure hunter, was kidnapped in June 2010 on the island-town of Pangutaran in Sulu.
Aside from the Japanese, the Abu Sayyaf is also holding two fishermen, Renato Panisales and Wennie Ferrer – all employees of the Mega Fishing Corporation in Zamboanga City – after they were seized at sea off Sulu in March last year. Their companion, Jonald Ocsimar, was freed in July after his family paid P300,000 ransom.
Another faction of the Abu Sayyaf is still holding an Australian national, Warren Rodwell, 52, in the Muslim province of Basilan, after he was kidnapped in December last year from his seaside home in Ipil town in Zamboanga Sibugay province.
The kidnappers demanded $2 million ransoms in exchange for his freedom, but his Filipino wife, Miraflor Gutang, 27, said they cannot afford to pay. Rodwell’s fate remains unknown.
Gunmen with links to the Ab u Sayyaf also kidnapped Lorenzo Vinciguerre, 47, of Switzerland and Ewold Horn, 52, of Holland, in February 1 in Tawi-Tawi’s Panglima Sugala town. Their Filipino guide, Ivan Serenas, managed to escape. (Mindanao Examiner)
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