MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 20, 2013) – A Taiwanese tourist kidnapped on a posh island resort off the Malaysian state of Sabah was freed by her captors in the southern Philippine province of Sulu.
Chang An Wei, 58, was released near the village of Liban in Talipao town and eventually recovered by civilians who informed local authorities about the woman, who was later brought to a military hospital in the capital town of Jolo.
It was not immediately known how much ransom was paid to the kidnappers believed to be members of the Abu Sayyaf.
The woman was kidnapped on November 15 by gunmen who also shot dead the victim’s husband Hsu Li Min, 57, in a daring cross-border raid in Sabah’s Pom Pom Island and fled towards Pulau Mataking near the Filipino province of Tawi-Tawi.
Malaysian authorities were investigating the possible involvement of locals in planning the raid.
The Abu Sayyaf has previously raided resorts in Sabah several times over the past decade and kidnapped dozens of Malaysians and foreigners and exchanged them for ransom money which is used to purchase weapons and fund terror attacks in the Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
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