PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 9, 2012) – Security forces captured 2 notorious bandits tagged as behind the series of kidnappings for ransom and murder of six people in the southern Philippines, an army spokesman said Friday.
Captain Alberto Caber, of the 1st Infantry Division, said soldiers and policemen raided a hideout of bandit leader Amie Andi at a village in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur and captured Montasser Ratarta and Rachmodin Andi.
“Their leader was not in the hideout when security forces stormed the place, but the operation is continuing for the capture of Amie Andi,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
Caber said Andi’s group was behind the kidnappings of Filipino traders and foreigners in Zamboanga Peninsula and was implicated in the murder of 6 people, including three children, in the town of Lapuyan in February.
Caber did not say whether Andi was involved in the kidnapping of Irish missionary Michael Sinnott, seized in October 12, 2009 in Pagadian City.
Aside from Sinnott, kidnappers also seized Italian Catholic priest Giancarlo Bossi in Zamboanga del Sur’s Payao town in June 10, 2007.
And in 1998, gunmen kidnapped Italian missioners Luciano Benedetti in Zamboanga del Norte province and in 1998 and Giuseppe Pierantoni in Dimataling town in Zamboanga del Sur.
Regional army chief Maj. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz III said he ordered soldiers to hunt down Andi who is believed to be hiding in Zamboanga del Sur province. “There shall be no let-up of pursuit operations against those responsible in the series of killings and kidnappings in Western Mindanao,” he said.
Cruz appealed to the public to help military and police authorities by providing information about Andi’s group. “The public must realize that their role in peace and security in the region is vital to the success of the security operations,” he said.
He said the two bandits are currently being interrogated in Pagadian City. (Mindanao Examiner)
20