ASG bandit wanted for arson, KFR falls in Sulu
PHILIPPINE National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG)\ director, Brigadier General Jonnel C. Estomo announced the capture of a known member of the Abu Sayyaf Group wanted for kidnapping-for-ransom and 25 counts of ransom during in Omar, Sulu at around 1 a.m. yesterday.
In a report to PNP chief, General Debold M. Sinas, Estomk identified the arrested suspect as Berhamin Ellih alias ‘Berhamin Hamad,’ a resident of Sitio Tando Gusuh in Barangay Capual, Omar, Sulu. The suspect was identified as a ‘spotter/boat operator’ of the Abu Sayyaf.
Estomo said members of the AKG Mindanao Field Unit led by Major Jerry Alvarez, with the support of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Police Regional Office 9 (PRO9), Sulu Police Provincial Office and the 4th Marine Brigade stormed the suspect’s house and arrested him.
Estomo said the suspect is the subject of a warrant of arrest for kidnapping-for-ransom and 25 counts of arson with no bail recommended issued by Judge Betlee-Ian Barraquias of the Jolo, Sulu Regional Trial Court Branch 5 on January 19, 2017.
The PNP-AKG director said that the suspect who is now being held at the Omar Municipal Police Station lock-up facility was identified as one of the armed men who stormed a village in Sitio Bait-Bait in Bgy. Lahing-Lahing in Omar where they set afire dozens of houses on August 4, 2016.
Estomo said the accused was also identified as one of the bandits who kidnapped five Indonesian nationals in the high seas between Tambisan and Lahad Datu in Malaysia on January 16, 2020 and the infamous Sipadan kidnappings in Sabah, Malaysia on April 23, 2000.
The suspect is also a known follower of the late Abu Sayyaf leader Alhabsi Misaya who gained notoriety for the involvement of his group in kidnapping-for-ransom and other atrocities in Indanan and Patikul, Sulu.