SAF commandos collar 2 elusive ASG members
A PHILIPPINE National Police Special Action Force-led (PNP-SAF) counter-terror operation in Zamboanga del Norte on Friday morning led to the capture of two most wanted Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members, said PNP-SAF Director Brigadier General Edgar Alan O. Okubo.
In a report to PNP Chief General Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr., the official identified the arrested suspects as alias “Majini” and alias “Sabaya”, described respectively as the 3rd and 5th most wanted men in Western Mindanao.
According to Okubo, commandos from the 85th Special Action Company of the SAF’s Rapid Deployment Battalion swooped down on the suspects’ hideout in Barangay Candelaria in Liloy, Zamboanga del Norte and immediately subdued the two elusive terrorists.
Both were arrested on the strength of a warrant for murder and kidnapping issued by the Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte Regional Trial Court Branch 27, he said.
Okubo said that his men were supported by officers from the Zamboanga del Norte Police Provincial Office, the Police Regional Office 9 (PRO9) Regional Special Operations Unit, the Regional Intelligence Unit 9, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group’s (AKG) Mindanao Field Unit, and the Philippine Air Force (PAF) in arresting the duo.
Both will be presented to the court for issuance of jail commitment order, the official said.
