Jail execs uncover escape plan for Sayyaf’s Janjalani

ZAMBOANGA City – Jail authorities here uncovered a plan by an Abu Sayyaf leader to bolt his detention cell with the aid of at least 30 comrades.

But the prisoner, Hector Janjalani, denied the report, claiming it was fabricated to force his return to Manila where he was arrested while trying to peddle video clips showing American hostage Jeffrey Schilling who has since been rescued by government troops.

Intelligence reports indicated that some 30 members of the Muslim terrorist group were dispatched to Zamboanga City to spring out Janjalani, elder brother of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, from detention here.

Under the plan, the group will pose as policemen to gain access to the detention facility.

Superintendent Leopoldo Morante, regional director of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, confirmed the escape plan, saying jail guards discovered fresh cracks on a concrete wall of Janjalani’s cell.

"They test the strength of the structure with the iron bar of a dumb bell which the prisoners use for exercise," Morante said.

Morante directed the guards to strengthen security measures to prevent the escape of Janjalani and the other inmates.

The guards also went through a weekend seminar on bomb detection.

Meanwhile, four more suspected Abu Sayyaf members were captured by combined elements of the police and the military and Basilan the other day.

The arrests were made by operatives of Task Force Comet conducting an all-out offensive and rescue operations in Basilan in a bid to free at least 21 Filipino and American hostages being held by the Abu Sayyaf for nearly two months now.

Maj. Alberto Gepilano, commander of the task force, said two of the suspects were nabbed after a brief gunfight with elements of the elite Scout Rangers in a village in Tipo-Tipo town in Basilan.

Gepilano identified the suspects as Bong Adjal and Ronnie Samad Ahadaos.

The two other suspects were identified as Tasdirul Abdu Mohammad and Nasser Upao believed to be a relative of Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya who were separately cornered in downtown Isabela City in Basilan.

Unfazed by Abu Sayyaf threats to execute more hostages if the military would not call off its offensive and intensified crackdown in Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, the Armed Forces vowed to pursue the operations until the terrorist group has been completely demolished.

"The government is determined to get them all," AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan said.

Adan said Sabaya and the other Abu Sayyaf leaders "would be held liable for any atrocities committed against peace-loving Muslims and Christians alike."

The bandits have so far executed five of the hostages, three of them by decapitation.

Sabaya has also claimed they have beheaded American captive Guillermo Sobero, 40, from Corona, California, although the body has not been found.

While the military said there were reasons to believe that Sobero was already dead, information received by the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) indicated that the American who was seized by the Abu Sayyaf from Dos Palmas resort in Palawan on May 27 was still alive.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said they were verifying reports in the Tuburan-Sumisip area.

Two other Americans abducted with Sobero, missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kansas were still being held by Sabaya’s group, along with Filipinos Angie Montealegre and Maria Fe Rosadeno.

Also still in Abu Sayyaf custody were 13 farmers seized from the Golden Harvest plantation in Lantawan town in Basilan and four hospital workers grabbed in Lamitan town. – Roel Pareño, Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez, Perseus Echeminada