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| Southeast Asia |
| Sahiron hiding in Sulu islands |
| 2005-11-08 |
| ABU Sayyaf commander Radullan Sahiron is hiding in Sulu province, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Generoso Senga said Monday. This developed as the man police mistook for Sahiron threatened to sue policemen for arresting him over the weekend. "Sahiron is in Sulu. His mass base is there. His bailiwick is there," Senga said in a chance interview with reporters in Camp Aguinaldo military headquarters. On Saturday, police arrested Anthony Gara in Titay town, believing he was the one-armed Abu Sayyaf commander who led the kidnapping of foreign tourists from a diving resort in Malaysia's Sipdadan Island in 2000. Police realized their blunder after an informant close to the bandit group noticed that Gara was missing his left arm. Sahiron's right arm, not his left, was amputated. Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Arturo Lomibao has apologized for falsely announcing Sahiron's arrest, calling it an "unintentional oversight." He said that the man police intelligence officials apprehended was only a "look-alike" of the Abu Sayyaf commander. "My family will not let them off with just an apology. We are seeking help so we can file charges," Gara said in a radio interview. Gara said that at around 4 p.m. Saturday, four uniformed policemen without name plates forcibly took him while he was about to enter his house. "They loaded me inside a van like a pig. They hit me in the head three times," he said, adding that while in detention, his eyes were covered with packaging tape. "Maybe they [police] noticed that my arm was amputated, that's why they arrested me. They said my face was similar [to Sahiron's]," Gara said. Senga said police arrested the Sahiron "look-alike" without coordinating with the military. "Based on my talk with Southern Command commander Lieutenant General Adan, it was an independent operation." President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was the first to announce the "arrest" of Sahiron in her program over government television station NBN. Senga confirmed the alleged arrest late Saturday evening, but he quoted information from police intelligence. Sahiron, who is believed to be the Abu Sayyaf's chief of staff, is wanted for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of 21 Western tourists and Asian workers from a Malaysian resort in April 2000. The hostages were freed after payment of huge ransom believed to have been financed by Libya. Sahiron and current Abu Sayyaf chief Khadaffy Janjalani are among five of the group's leaders wanted by the United States. The U.S. government has offered a five-million-dollar reward for information leading to their arrest and conviction, and has placed Abu Sayyaf on its list of terrorist organizations. The Philippine government has also raised a reward for their capture. Washington has deployed American troops to the southern Philippines to train and arm Filipino soldiers battling Muslim militants and provided covert assistance in one major effort to capture Sahiron on southern Jolo island early this year. The mistaken arrest showed the difficulty of the war on terrorism, Lomibao said. "The fight against terrorism is a long, tedious and emotional battle," he said. "Along the way, there are hits and misses. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 yeah Sulu's a real funny place. |
| Posted by: bk 2005-11-08 10:45 |
| #2 Heh. Gives new meaning to 'hiding in Sulu', doesn't it? |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-11-08 09:24 |
| #1 And Sulu is gay. Trekkie reference. |
| Posted by: Fde Fda 2005-11-08 03:10 |