Kidnapped Malaysian lizard trader in the Philippines freed

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Al Jacinto / May 15, 2012) – Filipino gunmen have freed a Malaysian lizard trader kidnapped last year in the southern province of Sulu, Malaysia’s Star newspaper reported Tuesday.

It said Nazaruddin Saidin, 39, arrived Sunday in Sandakan City in Malaysia’s oil-rich state of Sabah after kidnappers freed him over the weekend. He was immediately flown Monday to Kuala Lumpur and reunited with his family.

Nazaruddin, who was kidnapped in May 2011, said local villagers in Sulu negotiated for his freedom and that no ransom was paid to the kidnappers.

Philippine police earlier reported that Abu Sayyaf kidnappers had released Nazaruddin in March to a private negotiator.

“As far we all know Nazaruddin was secretly freed by his kidnappers to an unidentified negotiator in March and that’s our official report and we don’t know what transpired after that,” Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra, the Sulu police chief, told the Mindanao Examiner.

The Star said Nazaruddin was freed on Saturday and put on a boat to Sandakan. He said he was not harmed by the kidnappers who treated him well, although he was moved from one hideout to another during his captivity.

Nazaruddin said he tried to escape once, but returned to his captors after losing his way.

“Luckily, they were not angry. Instead, they advised me not to run away again,” he told Malaysian journalists at a news conference.

Putero Umno, an organization in Malaysia, helped organized Nazaruddin’s return home.

“The locals were very cooperative and negotiated peacefully with the kidnappers, who did not ask for a ransom and released Nazaruddin without putting up a fight,” the Star quoted Putera 1Malaysia Club president Datuk Abdul Azeez Bin Abdul Rahim, as saying.

He said it took them seven months of research, with help from villagers, to find Nazaruddin, who arrived in April last year in Sulu to buy geckos. The kidnappers had originally demanded P5 million ransoms for his safe release.

Sulu police said it is also verifying reports that a kidnapped Indian national was executed by the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu where the militant group tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya are still holding a Japanese man.

Biju Kolara Veetil, 36, was reported to have been killed by his captors for a still unknown reason despite ransoms paid to the Abu Sayyaf by his Filipina wife.

“We have intelligence reports about this but need to get a confirmation from his wife or find his body,” Freyra said.

He said Veetil’s wife, Elena Asanji, would not speak to the police about the fate of the foreigner. “She and family would not speak to us and the last information we got was that the woman is no longer in Sulu,” he said.

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.

Freyra said the woman’s family had paid at least P800,000 to the Abu Sayyaf for Veetil’s safe release, but the militants did not free the foreigner.

“We are trying to locate the negotiator and get details of the release of Mohammad, but we can’t trace him anymore,” Freyra said.

He said the Japanese hostage, Katayama Mamaito, 63, is also 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 2011 from his seaside home in Ipil town in Zamboanga Sibugay province.

The kidnappers originally demanded $2 million ransom, but lowered this to P20 million in exchange for his freedom, but his Filipino wife, Miraflor Gutang, 27, said they cannot afford to pay.

Another group of kidnappers are also holding a Malaysian fish trader Pang ChoonPong, who was seized in October last year in Tawi-Tawi; and two wildlife photographers Swiss national Lorenzo Vinciguerre, 47, and Dutchman Ewold Horn, 52, also kidnapped in February in the province. (Mindanao Examiner)