Tawi-Tawi scoured for 3 Abu hostages

A joint police and military operation by Philippine and Malaysian naval authorities was launched yesterday in search of three foreigners abducted by Abu Sayyaf gunmen last Sunday.

Philippine Navy officials have confirmed that gunmen belonging to the notorious Abu Sayyaf group carried out the latest kidnapping.

Navy chief Vice Adm. Ernesto de Leon said a certain Commander Lajib led the kidnapping of one Indonesian and two Malaysian seamen last Sunday.

De Leon also announced that combined forces from the Philippine Marines, Navy and police have launched an island-to-island search for the three foreign hostages.

Local police authorities and the military were also alerted to reports that the abductors were last monitored yesterday with their hostages in Buan island, commonly known as Turtle island, located on the border of Malaysia and the Philippines.

Navy spokesman Capt. Geronimo Malabanan said a patrol ship and three other support craft were deployed in border waters to look for the kidnappers and their hostages.

An Air Force plane is also involved in the search, he added.

The royal Malaysian navy is patrolling its side of the border, and has canceled an ongoing naval exercise in the area to allow the participating vessels to join the search, Malabanan said.

"We have a patrol ship and three other support craft and it is being supported by the royal Malaysian navy (at their side of the border)," he said.

Malabanan also confirmed reports that Tawi-Tawi residents have identified the abductors as members of the Abu Sayyaf.

"We are now receiving reports from the field that the group which abducted the three were Abu Sayyaf members and the alleged leader is a certain Lajid," he said.

Malabanan said the Navy search operations are now largely confined in the waters and islets in the vicinity of Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi.

Tawi-Tawi police provincial director Superintendent Esah Hassan said police intelligence units and civilian assets have been mobilized to track down the suspects and their captives.

"We have coordinated with our counterpart in Sulu to be on alert and possibly intercept the abductors and rescue the victims," Hassan said.

Accounts as to the identities of the hostages varied. The military’s Southern Command has identified the hostages as tugboat skipper Indonesian Woltr Sampet, and Malaysians Toh Chiu Tiong and Wong Stu Aung, both crew of the M/L Ocean 2.

On the other hand, Malaysia’s New Straits Times newspaper and the state news agency Bernama identified the victims as Malaysians Toh Chiu Tiong, 48, and Wong Siu Ung, 52, and the boat’s captain, Indonesian Walter Sampel, 53.

The military disclosed that the Malaysian registered tugboat was pulling a barge loaded with pebbles northwest of Linkian Island of Sabah with 10 crew members when the gunmen on a twin engine speedboat boarded their tugboat and snatched the three.

Seven crew members left on board after the attack motored to Sabah in Malaysia and reported the incident.

Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko said the gunmen and their captives initially escaped toward the direction of Baguan island near Taganak.

Capt. Feliciano Angue, chief of the anti-terror unit Naval Task Force 62, and the Marine Fleet command unit are combing the islands of Mapun, Buan and Bagua islands.

A separate Navy unit on two speedboats has been patrolling the sealanes of the area while the Air Force launched aerial surveillance operations in the area.

Officials said raiders of the Malaysian tugboat might have slipped into Philippine waters with the hostages.

Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita said earlier that the identity of kidnappers wasn’t clear, but they reportedly spoke Tausug, one of the dialects used by members of the Abu Sayyaf.

Officials differed about whether the attack occurred in Malaysian or Philippine waters, but Malaysia’s Defense Minister Najib Razak said his government’s forces couldn’t pursue the raiders into foreign territory without permission.

The identity and motive of the attackers also were not known, though Najib conceded it was possible they were members of Abu Sayyaf.

Najib said no ransom demands had so far been received on their end.

He disclosed Malaysian authorities in Sabah received an emergency distress call from the boat saying they were under attack in Philippine waters. Najib, however, couldn’t confirm when the call was received.

Transnational Crime

Malaysian Ambassador Taufik Mohamed Noor told reporters after calling on President Arroyo that Kuala Lumpur viewed Sunday’s kidnappings in the Celebes Sea as the work of pirates.

"I view the incident in the south, what happened last Sunday evening, as purely an act of banditry or even a criminal act," Taufik said.

"We don’t view this as an act of terrorism as such because it’s been known that (the) area is a place of piracy, of banditry and for criminal elements to do mischief there," he said.

Ermita said the government is now coordinating with the Malaysian authorities in search for the three hostages.

Ermita and Taufik said the incident was similar to the Oct. 5 abduction of three Indonesian and three Filipino employees of Malaysia’s Borneo Paradise Resort. Three weeks later, the abductors reportedly killed five of the hostages in Tawi-Tawi, while one of the captives, a Filipino identified as Novelito Arcosel, escaped barely a week later.

Taufik, for his part, conceded it was highly possible that the Abu Sayyaf carried out the kidnapping.

"They’re either bandits or armed criminals plying the area," Taufik said. "It’s not wrong to assume the Abu Sayyaf. It’s highly possible."

Sea kidnappings are common in the area. The Abu Sayyaf launched boat raids on upscale resorts in Malaysia twice in 2000, kidnapping tourists and demanding ransoms.

Taufik also noted that despite security agreements among the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, the wide and open seas were difficult to monitor.

In his last official act as outgoing Malaysian envoy, Taufik asked Mrs. Arroyo yesterday for her assistance in the safe recovery of the hostages.

After learning of the incident, Taufik said he contacted the Department of National Defense (DND) and officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

"And we have been assured by both the DFA and the DND that they would cooperate fully with our authorities in Sabah," Taufik said.

"There have been a lot of speculations. I read (in) the papers and it said the Abu Sayyaf (has) to be involved but we were told the kidnappers were Tausug speaking but we still do not know their nationalities," he said.

During a ceremony in Malacañang marking his last official day as Malaysian ambassador yesterday, Taufik stressed the kidnapping incident will not put a strain between the diplomatic ties between Malaysia and the Philippines.

"This (kidnapping incident) is a form of transnational crime. I view the incident... as purely an act of banditry or even a criminal act that affected both the Philippines, Malaysia and even now Indonesia because one of their nationals was involved," Taufik said.

The reported transnational abduction comes on the heels of a mass jailbreak by members of the bandit group and other inmates during Holy Week at the Basilan Provincial Rehabilitation Center in Isabela City.

The inmates, who are facing kidnapping and murder charges, used a smuggled caliber .45 automatic pistol in their escape.

Two more escapees were killed in the manhunt operations by the police and military yesterday.

Authorities accounted for 30 inmates, with 11 killed and 19 recaptured, bringing to 23 the number of fugitives still at large.

The President ordered yesterday the formation of new "special tracking teams" whose task is to hunt down the remaining escapees.

"The President has directed that special tracking teams must concentrate on the (remaining) Abu Sayyaf escapees to prevent them from rejoining their cohorts," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

The directive came a day after Mrs. Arroyo ordered "to cordon off the whole Basilan" to prevent the escapees from fleeing the island province.

Authorities also announced the capture of another Abu Sayyaf member involved in the Dos Palmas kidnapping in May 2001.

Superintendent Gregorio Pimentel, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group 9 (CIDG) identified the captured Abu Sayyaf leader as Utoh Hapibin alias Isnirojin Lagayasan.

Hapibin, who carries a bounty of P1 million for his capture, was arrested in Lamitan town proper in Basilan.

"Hapibin is a very active Abu Sayyaf leader and he was involved in the Dos Palmas kidnapping," Pimentel said.

Pimentel said Hapibin was immediately brought to Manila and would be presented anytime by the CIDG central office.

On the other hand, Senior Inspector William Gadayan, Isabela City Police chief identified the slain Abu Sayyaf fugitives as Sattal Muktar and a certain Sarikin.

"Out of the 18 Abu Sayyaf who led the mass jailbreak only 8 remained at large while the 10 others were among those killed and recaptured," Gadayan said. - AFP, AP, Roel Pareño, Jaime Laude, Marichu Villanueva, Christina Mendez