Six Filipino kidnappers, drug pushers linked to terrorist groups nabbed
They are allegedly linked to the Abu Sayyaf and Dawlah Islamiyah-Lanao groups.
ZAMBOANGA: Philippine police have arrested six suspected members of an Abu Sayyaf-linked kidnapping group and a local IS group in two separate operations in the south.
Abral Ibrahim Abdusalam, the suspected leader of the kidnap-for-ransom group that allegedly had links with the Abu Sayyaf Group, was nabbed together with his three followers Friday (June 30) in Lower Baluran village, Imelda municipality.
The 41-year-old Abdusalam is the third most wanted person in Zamboanga Sibugay and then ninth in the region, said Brig. Gen. Neil Alinsañgan, the chief of the Police Regional Office-Zamboanga Peninsula, in a report Saturday (July 1) .
The suspect has standing warrants for kidnapping and serious illegal detention as well as murder with no bail issued by courts in Ipil and Imelda municipalities.
His three cohorts were identified as Janhar Abdulhari Martin, 31; Hamid Attan Abdulsalam, 41; and Marvin Kasim, 41. They are also facing murder charges at different courts in Zamboanga Sibugay.
The suspects were allegedly involved in kidnappings, gun-for-hire, extortion and other atrocities in Zamboanga Sibugay and nearby areas, Alinsañgan said.
The two suspected members of the local IS terror group called Dawlah Islamiya-Lanao also known as the Maute Group were intercepted by police while out to deliver 346,800 Philippine Pesos worth of meth to a buyer in the secluded Sugod village in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur province, Thursday (June 29).
Policemen were inspecting motorcycle riders Rasul Unte Sarip and Esmael Guro Pacabi for firearms at a checkpoit but found meth in their sling bags.
Col. Robert Daculan, the Lanao del Sur provincial police chief, said Saturday (July 1) that Sarip and Pacabi are now detained and awaiting prosecution for violation of drug laws.
Local executives in different Lanao del Sur towns reportedly told reporters that the duo belonged to a group of some 30 drug dealers who shared earnings with Faharuddin Hadji Sattar @ Abu Zacharia, the recently slain leader of IS in the Philippines and Southeast Asia region.
Abu Zacharia and his deputy, Joharie Sandab Morsib, were killed in a joint police-Army law enforcement operation on June 14 in the Sarimanok area of Marawi City.
“These two men, Rasul and Esmael, are connected with the Dawlah Islamiya. They have a shabu (meth) distribution network in Marawi City and in municipalities in the first district of Lanao del Sur,” a Muslim preacher in Marawi City, who requested anonymity to speak to the media, was quoted as saying in a report.