PHILIPPINE National Police Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) Director P/Brigadier General Rudolph B. Dimas on Thursday announced the capture of a member of the notorious Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) wanted for a 2007 non-bailable murder case in Tawi-Tawi.

In a report to PNP chief, General Benjamin C. Acorda Jr., the official identified the arrested suspect as Tatoh Datu Adingih, a man ordered jailed for a murder case by Judge Abdulmaid Muin of the Bongao, Tawi-Tawi Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 5 on June 14, 2007.

“After 16 long years in hiding, we have tracked down and put behind bars an Abu Sayyaf wanted for a murder case,” said Dimas.

The official said that troopers from the SAF’s 5th Special Action Battalion (SAB) tracked down the elusive suspect in his hiding place in Barangay Simalac in Languyan, Tawi-Tawi on Wednesday afternoon following an “intelligence-driven” operation triggered by a tip from several informants.

Dimas described the suspect as the 9th “most wanted person” in Tawi-Tawi who has evaded arrest over the past 16 years by using the false name of “Tatoh Moro.”

He said that they turned over the suspect to the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) shortly after his arrest.

The PNP-SAF director also thanked officers from the PNP Maritime Group, the Basulta Regional Mobile Force Battalion, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and the Philippine Navy for supporting his men in their manhunt operation.

“I would also like to congratulate the officers and men of the SAF’s 5th Special Action Battalion who finally put the most wanted Abu Sayyaf bandit behind bars. This is in line with our stepped-up support to all law enforcement operations of PNP territorial units as we sustain our fight against terrorism and insurgency,” Dimas told the Journal Group.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Alfred P. Dalizon