ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 14, 2013) – Philippine authorities are holding an Abu Sayyaf rebel tagged as one of those who kidnapped a group of Filipino evangelists in 2002 in the southern town of Patikul, a regional police spokesman said.
Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca said security forces on Thursday captured Ustadz Nijal Pajiran alias Abu Kudama, in the village of Tictapul.
He said Pajiran is facing a string of criminal charges in connection with the ransom kidnappings of 6 members of the Jehova’s Witnesses – two of them were later beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf after their family failed to pay the ransoms and the rest freed during a military rescue operation.
“Pajiran will be immediately flown to Manila for subsequent turn over to the court,” Huesca told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
No other details were made available by the police, but Huesca said Pajiran’s capture was the result of long intelligence operations by various law enforcement agencies and the military.
The Abu Sayyaf is a small, but the most notorious rebel group with links to the Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya and involved in terrorism and kidnappings for ransoms in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
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