‘Kidnapper’ of 6 Jehovah’s Witnesses members nabbed
NATIONAL Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director, Major General Edgar Alan O. Okubo on Thursday announced the capture of a most wanted member of the extremist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) found hiding in an apartment in Quiapo, Manila.
In a report to Philippine National Police chief, General Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr., the NCRPO chief identified the arrested suspect as Muktar Yusop Maani alias ‘Benjamin/Pa Gari,’ a member of the ASG wanted for six counts of kidnapping-for-ransom and serious illegal detention.
The criminal charges stemmed from the kidnapping of six members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Patikul, Sulu on August 20, 2002. Two of the hostages were later beheaded by the terrorists.
Maj. Gen. Okubo said the accused was arrested by members of the NCRPO Regional Special Operations Group and Anti-Terrorist Task Group headed by Colonel Romano V. Cardiño and officers from the Manila Police District Station 14 inside his room at the 3rd floor of Rosaria Apartment located along De Guzman Street in Barangay 393 in Quiapo around 3:50 a.m. Thursday.
The official said the suspect is an active member of the ASG operating in Zamboanga Peninsula, Basilan, Sulu and Metro Manila who has been the target of the PNP Directorate for Intelligence-approved Coplan: Arrow Alpha aimed at neutralizing known terrorists in the country.
Maj. Gen. Okubo said that a record check showed that the 38-year old jobless suspect is a native of Tuburan, Basilan who went into hiding in Metro Manila after a warrant for his arrest for kidnapping and serious illegal detention was issued by Judge Toribio Ilao Jr. of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 266 on November 5, 2009.
Believed to be also involved in gun-for-hire activities, the suspect was tagged as one of the ASG bandits who kidnapped a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Patikul, Sulu on August 20, 2002.
NCRPO RID-ATTG officers led by Captain Artemio Cinco Jr. tracked down the elusive suspect after weeks of surveillance and information-gathering.
The accused was immediately informed of his constitutional rights including the Miranda Doctrine shortly after being placed under arrest by the NCRPO operatives who documented their operation with the use of a Body-Worn Camera and an Alternative Recording Device.
He is now being held at the NCRPO-RSOG lock-up facility pending the issuance of an official commitment order from the Pasig City court.
Maj. Gen. Okubo said he has ordered his men to continue tracking down suspected ASG members hiding in the metropolis.
The ASG is a Jihadist group officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State-East Asia Province and based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands.
The group is known to be violent and responsible for the country’s worst terrorist attack: the bombing of M/V Superferry 14 in 2004 which killed 116 people.
Known for carrying out bombing, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion, the ASG has been designated as a terrorist group by the government as well as the United States, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
