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| Southeast Asia |
| Commander Robot ID'd in court by 2 former hostages |
| 2004-09-24 |
| Two Malaysian former hostages testified in court in Taguig yesterday that a detained Abu Sayyaf commander was the man who led a group that kidnapped 21 people in the Sipadan resort off Borneo island in Malaysia. Police Cpl. Abdul Jawad Sulawat and scuba diving instructor Fong Yin Ken took the witness stand and pointed to Ghalib Andang, better known as "Commander Robot," as among the gunmen who took the captives by boat to Mindanao in April 2000. The policeman also identified four other men among the 28 defendants in the kidnapping of 21 Western tourists and Asians from Sipadan. Andang, said by the military to be a senior leader of the Abu Sayyaf, had to have his left leg amputated after it was shattered in a firefight on the rebel stronghold of Jolo island last December that led to his capture. He sat impassively at his wheelchair with an arm handcuffed to that of a fellow defendant as a lower court heard the testimonies of the Malaysian victims at a heavily guarded police compound at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig. Sulawat, who spent 83 days in captivity before being ransomed off, described through an interpreter how the terrified captives endured the boat ride across the Celebes Sea to the Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Jolo. Sulawat said the kidnappers were met by up to 1,000 followers armed with assault rifles, mortars and pistols, who informed the captives that they were under Abu Sayyaf custody. Asked why he did not escape, the police officer said: "I was scared of the Abu Sayyaf. They had a lot of weapons and I was not conversant of the area." Fong, who said he recognized only Andang among the defendants, told Judge Erlinda Uy that he spent 119 days in captivity. He said he did not actually see any money change hands between negotiators and his captors, but said the kidnappers' ranks "grew" and they acquired more weaponry as the hostage crisis dragged on. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |